


Gotta Love The Little Things

by AquaWolfGirl



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: BB is an adorable little girl, Ben as a kindergarten teacher, F/M, Fluff, Kindergarten Teacher AU, M/M, Multi, Pining, Rey Finn and Poe as BB's Parents, Teacher AU, cuteness, you can see where this is going
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-05
Updated: 2016-04-10
Packaged: 2018-05-31 08:43:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 22,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6463522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AquaWolfGirl/pseuds/AquaWolfGirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Disaster Dameron. That's the nickname he gives her after she wipes out on the playground the first day of school, adding another band-aid to the collection of Disney Princess ones littered across her knees and elbows. She's a sweet little thing, if a bit accident prone, and he genuinely finds himself enjoying having her in his small class of 20 kids.<br/>And then he meets her parents - all three of them.<br/>It starts with Finn, and then he meets Poe, and eventually he meets Rey. And after each smile they throw his way, he starts to think that maybe he's the one who's the disaster.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Mr. Solo

**Author's Note:**

> I really should be working on other projects, considering this one isn't even finished and was just intended to be a long one shot. But I'd like to hear responses before I finish it, at the very least, and see if people are even interested in it. So, here it is! Have some bespectacled, adorably awkward and good-with-kids Ben Solo.

It starts on the first day of school, with a little girl in bright orange t-shirt whose shoes come untied way too often. 

The first day of school, in his 6 years of teaching at Resistance Elementary School, is always chaotic. It occasionally ends in disaster, but over the years he’s learned to prevent it as much as possible. He has an emergency kit in the biggest drawer of his desk with spare sets of gender-neutral clothes, his own first-aid kit, crackers for the kids who feel ill or still hungry after snack, and plenty of other small things. For the past few years, he thankfully hasn’t had to use it on the first day. 

Of course, Bella Dameron would be the one to change that. 

He’s tied her shoes four times in the past hour. He inwardly questions her parents’ decision, and double knots them – sometimes triple knots them. But for some reason, they still come untied, and he’s watching her on the playground when she trips and falls spectacularly in a way that simultaneously has him cringing and wishing he’d somehow filmed it because bravo, little lady. 

Much to his surprise, she doesn’t cry out, or call for anyone, but gets back up and keeps running. It’s not until she runs by him half a moment later with blood dripping down her leg that he catches her gently by the wrist. “Bella?” he questions, pulling her back from the game that she and a few other kids are playing. “Does your knee hurt?” 

“Yes,” she says sweetly, staring up at him. It isn't until he spots the Ariel band-aid on her other knee and the Belle one on her elbow that he suddenly realizes that this is such a normal occurrence that she’s entirely unfazed by the fact that she’s bleeding, and instead just sees it as an easily-run-over traffic cone rather than an entire roadblock. 

“Let’s get you cleaned up,” he tells her, offering her his hand, and then she grins at him, all bright smiles and holy hell she has dimples, isn’t that adorable? 

“Okay!” she says, and insists on hopping over every line in the sidewalk on the way to the nurses, and she hops on the blue tiles in the hallway, refuses to step on the purple ones and downright stomps on the orange ones. He doesn’t hide his smile particularly well, and as soon as her knee’s cleaned up and bandaged he takes her hand and leads her back to the playground. As soon as they reach the jungle gym she’s off, tearing her little hand from his significantly larger one and laughing as she chases after a little boy who has a good head on her in height but is losing speed quickly. Ben watches, leaning against the fence with his arms crossed over his chest. He keeps eyes on her for the rest of playtime, almost waiting for her to have another total wipeout. 

-

Over the course of the first week, he learns quite a few things about Bella. The first is that she prefers Star Wars band-aids, but they’d run out of them over the weekend (shocker, Ben thinks sarcastically), and they’d had to use Disney ones. But if she had to pick a princess, she liked Ariel or Anna because they had red hair.

He also learns quickly that she goes by BB at home, and he makes the note next to her name in his attendance list and switches her name in the classroom; he makes a new nametag for her desk, changes her card on the jobs list, and makes a new folder for her to put her work into. When she comes back the next morning to ‘BB’ on her desk instead of ‘Bella’, he swears she lights up like a lightbulb with a smile brighter than the sun. It makes it entirely worth the taping and untaping he’d had to go through to change it. 

-

She’s a sweet little thing, emphasis on ‘little’. She’s perhaps one of his smallest students, but boy, is she a fighter. He learns that she can hold her own with the boys in block building, and can out-sass most anyone in the room with a few words. He has to reign her in a few times when she gets a little too rowdy, but most of the time she’s just fine herself – aside from the several scrapes on her palms, knees and elbows. And besides, she’s a little kindergartener; a kid of this age being rowdy is nowhere near unheard of, and he doesn’t mind it. 

It’s in the first two weeks of school when he hears it. It’s this small little chirp sound, and he frowns, looking up from where he’s helping Cedric with opening his sandwich bag. He glances around the room for the source of the noise when he sees it; BB. She’s staring at her lunchbox in some sort of awe, peering into the tin box before her face splits into a wide grin and she starts bouncing in her seat. “Daddy gave me two gummies!” she exclaims, and the little blond boy he’s currently helping perks up at the mention of gummies. He watches the exchange unfold, the extra pack of gummies for two vanilla Oreos, and smiles as he makes his way back to his desk. 

And that’s how he learns that if Bella Dameron is happy, she chirps. 

-

The first parent-teacher conference, he gets a man named Finn. 

The father arrives fifteen minutes early and waits patiently, leaning against the wall of cubbies just outside the classroom as Ben finishes up with a mother who asks too many questions and wears too much perfume. She leaves the room with a smile that borders on flirtatious, and Ben tries very very hard not to rip her child’s lime green folder in half as he puts it back with the rest of the students. 

He doesn’t even realize the next parent is there until there’s a soft knock on his door and a quiet, “Mr. Solo?” 

Ben looks up, eyes wide as he sees the man in the doorway. “Oh, sorry, didn’t see you.” He stands from where he’s crouched over the file cabinet, straightening his glasses and brushing off his pants before walking over and offering one large, pale hand to the other man. “Ben Solo. Pleasure to meet you, Mr.-?”

“Dameron,” the man supplies. “Mr. Dameron. Well, one of them. I’m Finn.” 

The words don’t even faze him, really. It’s a modern world, times are changing. Of course there are going to be more openly gay parents, with the new laws and adjustments to benefits. He himself isn’t opposed to the idea of being with another man, either, so he just nods and gestures to the small desks where he’s conducted the conferences so far. 

Finn sits with the stiffness of someone who’s used to orders and rigidity, and Ben hunches slightly due to his own tall stature. “Military?” he asks, pulling an orange folder from the pile he has in the middle of the desks. 

“I-uh, yeah, how’d you know?” Finn asks, immediately rubbing a hand along the back of his neck. 

“I was in the Marines,” Ben explains as he opens the folder and shows Finn some of the things they’ve been doing, putting colorful worksheets on the table and a progress report at the top. “You sit like you’re waiting for an order.” 

“Oh, sorry,” Finn blurts. Ben just smiles kindly. Finn’s young, very young. Probably too young for a daughter in elementary school, but Ben’s not one to judge. “Honorable discharge. Injured myself pretty badly.” 

“Sorry to hear that,” Ben offers, before gesturing to Bella’s folder. “She’s a bright little thing,” he explains, pointing to some of the work. “Math’s her strong suit, but she also likes reading. However, she seems to like being told stories more than reading them.” 

“Figured you’d say that,” Finn replies. “We’re working on it at home.” 

“Glad to hear it. It’s not really an issue, but I thought you should know anyway.” Ben pulls a piece of artwork from the folder and offers it to the father. “She likes drawing robots.”

Finn snorts. “You have no idea how much LEGO we have. Kid’s going to be an inventor one day, I swear.” 

Ben just smiles and nods. “I don’t doubt it.” He glances back down at the folder and pulls out some more of the worksheets. He walks Finn through some of what they’ve been doing, and fills him in on how BB’s been taking the information. “Overall, she’s doing very well and it’s a pleasure to have her in my class,” Ben says, closing her orange folder and slipping it back with the rest of them. 

The man across from him breathes a sigh of relief and shifts slightly, the small blue chair creaking beneath his weight. “That’s good. That’s really good.” 

“Were you worried about her?” Ben asks, frowning. 

“Oh, no, not at all,” he insists, shaking his head. “I’ve just…” He laughs, fingers laced together and feet fidgeting slightly. “I’ve never been to a parent teacher conference. I didn’t know what to expect.” 

“This,” Ben says with a grin. “And I get to do this all day. Oh joy.” It’s a deadpan kind of humor, and he watches as Finn’s face splits into a sorry smile. 

“I’m so sorry.” The man sounds genuinely apologetic. “Can I bring you a coffee or anything?” 

Ben stands and waves his offer away. “No, no, I’m fine, I have coffee.” He extends his hand to the other man. Finn takes it gratefully, and lets himself be hauled up. Ben allows himself a one-over of the father. He’s an attractive man, slightly shorter than Ben with full lips and kind eyes. “It was a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Dameron.” He allows himself a smirk. “Well, one of them.” 

Finn’s smile is blinding. “Finn. Just call me Finn. Mr. Dameron will get confusing if you have more than one of us in the room at one time.” 

“Finn.” It’s short and sweet, like the man himself. “Ben.” 

“Nice to meet you too, Ben.”

-

Poe Dameron is an everyone’s man. Ben says this because he can fully imagine anyone, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity, throwing themselves full-throttle at this man. Poe looks like he should be on a magazine cover instead of a tiny first grade class room, tucked into a little blue plastic chair that fits maybe half his ass and makes his knees fold up into his chest. 

“Mr. Dameron,” he says when he introduces himself with a wink and a firm handshake. “The other one.” 

“Pleasure to meet you,” Ben replies as he tries to keep his heart from jumping out of his throat and spilling out of his mouth. He hopes to hell and back that his hand isn’t too sweaty as he stares at the extraordinarily attractive man smiling at him.

“How’s my little princess doing?” Poe asks, leaning back in the uncomfortable chair. 

Ben takes a bit longer to get comfortable, trying to settle himself into the chair without dislocating or cracking anything. It’s always difficult, no matter how many times he finds himself sitting in one to help a kid. Poe watches, amused, as the 6’3 man folds himself into the chair a foot from the floor. 

“Well,” Ben finally responds once he gets comfortable. “Does she know Star Wars?” 

“Yeah, why?” 

“She likes to connect the markers together and pretend she’s Luke Skywalker,” he deadpans. 

Poe’s laugh is bright and warm, and the man’s face lights up as he laughs. Ben decides he likes it. “You’ve got to be kidding me.” 

“I’m not,” Ben assures him.

The rest of the meeting goes well. He does the same thing he did with Finn, showing off papers and a piece of artwork and some worksheets. He takes the time to explain a few of the subjects they’ve covered, and what’s expected of BB in the next few months of school. Poe nods understandingly through all of it, leaning close to Ben to see the pages of worksheets that smell of crayon and printer ink. BB’s not fantastic at the reading comprehension, but she excels in math, and Poe mutters, “Wonder where the hell she got that,” when Ben shows him the smiley face stickers and 100 stamps at the top of the worksheet. 

The meeting’s over mercifully quickly. Poe grips his hand with a smile. Ben notices he’s about the same height as his husband, a good few inches shorter than Ben himself. “Thanks for taking care of our girl, Ben.” 

He wants to tell the man that it’s no problem, that BB’s a precious little girl and one of his favorite students, but his voice catches in his throat and he just manages a borderline violent head nod before Poe’s walking out the door. 

-

Over the past four months, he’s counted at least 18 knee scrapes. He’s started mentally calling her Disaster Dameron, and the nurse knows her by name now.

One day she comes back from the weekend with nearly six bandaids in a long row on her little left leg, one on her chin, two on her forehead, and a grin that’s so bright it could probably power the entire school. 

“We went ice skating over the weekend!” she declares proudly. 

He’d be concerned for her wellbeing, assume abuse and call someone if she wasn’t so excited to tell him about how she tried to spin like Elsa and Anna and promptly wiped out on the ice of the park lake. He smiles through the entire story, laughing at what he assumes is the right moments, and she’s practically beaming by the time she’s done. 

“It sounds like you had a very fun weekend,” he tells her, and she nods enthusiastically. “Maybe tell your dads to make you wear a helmet and knee pads next time?” 

“I was wearing them!” 

He resists the urge to crack up and just shakes his head, watching as the little girl runs off to go start playing with the small sand and water table in the corner of the room. 

-

“Ben?” 

In his surprise, he nearly squeezes the beer glass hard enough for it to shatter. He turns, eyes blown wide as his head whips around to find the owner of the voice.

He doesn’t have to look too far. Finn slides in next to him, grinning brightly. “Didn’t think you were the bar type,” the man says, and Ben offers him what he can of a small, awkward smile. 

“I’m usually not,” he admits, looking towards the beer. It’s his second, pathetically. 

“You okay? You look a little down.” Finn’s looking at him with an expression that belongs more to puppies than human beings. Ben’s starting to realize where BB gets it. 

“I’m fine,” he tells the young father. “Just … life.” His shitty love life, specifically, with his redheaded bastard of an ex calling him drunkenly and slurring into the phone how much of a shit boyfriend Ben was. Ben should’ve hung up, shouldn’t have even picked up to begin with, but now he’s sitting at a bar and drinking beer when he really wants to be shooting whiskey to get drunk enough to black out. But he has worksheets to grade tomorrow, and a project to plan involving dinosaurs, and he really doesn’t want to be handling names like ‘parasaurolophus’ with a hangover.

Finn stares for another moment before clapping him on the shoulder. Ben can feel the heat of the other man’s hand through his dark t-shirt. 

“I’m sorry, whatever it was,” Finn tells him before smiling sweetly, turning, and walking away. 

Ben watches him go. He shouldn’t have continued watching, not when Poe’s watching curiously from a high top table. Not when Finn leans in and kisses his husband, soft and sweet and out of place in such a dive. Not when Ben finds himself wondering how hell they can be so happy, so completely and utterly perfect when he’s sitting at a bar, alone and maybe just a bit depressed. 

He waves the bartender down. “I’m done.”

-

“Are you okay, Mr. Solo?” 

It’s recess, but it’s raining outside and so the kids are indoors. He has puzzles and toys and coloring pages for them, and the kids are divided into their own little friend groups. He watches, amused as some of the children move between groups like water, from one lake to another. BB is one of those kids, fitting in everywhere she’d like without issues. He’s zoned out, watching the water on the window when she approaches him. 

“Hm?” he asks, looking down at the little girl who’s looking up at him expectantly. He leans down. “I’m sorry, BB, I didn’t have my ears open. What did you ask me?”

“You look sad,” she replies, rocking a bit on her feet. He counts only two band-aids this time. “Papa and Daddy said you looked sad the other night, too.”

He stares at her, heart hurting slightly. “They did?” he asks, more to himself than her. 

“Uh huh. Well, I don’t think I was supposed to hear them talking,” she admits. “But they said you looked sad and deprissed.” 

He allows himself a small smile at her mispronunciation. “Dee-pressed,” he says. “It’s an adult word. I’m not sad, BB, but thank you for asking.” 

“Okay!” It’s as simple as that, it seems. She splits into a smile, and he notices absentmindedly that she lost a tooth over the weekend, one of the ones down in the front. “Bye, Mr. Solo!” And then she’s off, heading towards the coloring table with a spring in her step. 

Ben bites back a sigh, teeth worrying his lower lip as he watches her out of the corner of his eye for a few moments before asking the class if they’d like to hear a story.

-

He’s out of school when she falls from the monkey bars, a case of too-small-too-slippery hands and rain-slicked metal.

Sundays have started with a run around the park since he moved here, his apartment still in boxes when he took his first jog along the perimeter of the lake. It’s a mindless activity that gets his blood moving and his lungs pumping, and keeps him in shape when the idea of getting to a gym is a bit intimidating. It also reminds him of drills, admittedly, and his life before the classroom. So he grabs his shoes, his keys and his phone and just runs out into the late March air. It’s cool enough that he needs a hoodie, but warm enough that he can pull out his shorts, and for that he’s grateful. 

He’s jogging by the playground when he hears the bloodcurdling shriek from the side, and stops dead in his tracks. A few others stop as well, glancing towards the play area before going on their way. He scans the playground, looking across the woodchips and watching for any sign of distress. His eyes widen when he sees Finn Dameron booking it across the ground, reaching towards BB who’s collapsed at the bottom of the monkey bars. 

He sprints over, stepping up beside the little girl and her father. “Hey, what’s going on?” Ben asks as he kneels beside them. BB’s lying on the ground, her arm pinned beneath her, and letting out heart-breaking wails followed by hiccupping sobs. 

“She fell,” Finn explains, voice frantic. “Poe and Rey are off getting ice cream for us, I don’t have my phone, I can’t-“ 

Ben pulls his phone from the pocket on his hoodie, handing it to the stressed father. “Here,” he says. “Use mine.” 

Finn takes the phone gratefully. “Thank you, thank you so much,” he mutters as he starts to call them. 

Ben looks down at BB, who’s now crying openly. Her wails haven’t ceased, and they make his heart hurt, so he reaches down and puts his hand on her shoulder, warm and comforting. “Hey, hey, you’re going to be okay, all right?” he murmurs, trying to be soothing. “Your dad’s got it handled.” 

She stops mid-wail, looking up at him in surprise. Tears are flowing freely down her cheeks, her eyes wide. “Mr. Solo?” 

“Hi, BB,” he says, a little amused at her shock. 

“What’re you here for?” she asks between little hiccups. 

“I was running,” he explains. “Like you do on the playground. You’re a good runner, you know that?” 

She sniffles. The wailing’s stopped now, thankfully, but then the sobs come, and if possible they’re even more pitiful and heart-breaking than the wails. 

Finn’s looking agitated and stressed, fingers repeatedly punching Ben’s phone screen. “Neither of them are picking up,” he explains, running a hand over his hair. “I know where they went, I just-“

“Then go,” Ben says simply. He jerks his chin towards his phone. “Take the phone with you, keep calling them on your way.” 

“Are you sure?” the father asks, kneeling beside BB with the teacher. “I don’t want to leave her.”

“I’ll stay with her,” Ben explains. “I’ve dealt with worse myself. I’ve broken my left arm 4 times. I can get her sitting up and protecting it.” 

“Are you sure?” Finn asks again. 

“Positive. Go.” 

Finn kneels beside his daughter, stroking her hair lovingly. “BB, baby girl, Daddy’s going to be right back, all right? Are you okay with staying with Mr. Solo? Is that okay, baby? I’ll be right back, I promise.” 

She sniffles, and Ben can see her entire body jump as she sob-hiccups. And then there’s a nod, and Finn’s leaning down to press kisses over her entire face. “I’ll be right back with Papa and Mama, okay?” he asks, and she nods again. With that he’s off, running with Ben’s phone to his ear. 

Ben reaches down to guide her up. “I’m going to have you sit up for me, all right, sweetheart?” he asks. “That way we can see your arm.” 

She’s shivering, he realizes, and he’s not sure whether it’s from the still-cool-March air or from fear. It’s probably a little bit of both. “C’mon, sweetheart,” he soothes, guiding her shoulders up and helping her into a sitting position. He sees her arm and sighs softly in relief. It’s a bit grotesque-looking, with her forearm at an angle it really shouldn’t be, but it looks like a clean break. 

However, once she sees it, her eyes widen and she lets out another wail. Shit. 

“Hang on,” he says softly, pulling the zipper of his hoodie down and tugging it from his shoulders. He wraps it around her, tucking her arm beneath the navy fabric and hiding it from her view. He knows probably shouldn’t in fear of what Finn might think once he gets back, but he parts his legs and adjusts her so that she’s sitting between them and can lean back against his chest. She happily takes the support, her little weight back against him as she stares at the lump beneath her hoodie that’s her broken arm. He sits behind her, letting her lean back against him as much as she wants to. 

“It’s not bad,” he assures her, rubbing at her non-broken arm in an attempt to warm her up. “Guess what? I’ve done it 4 times!” He’s using his teaching voice now, all saccharine sweet and overly enthusiastic. 

“4?” she asks, trying to look back at him. He nods and shows her the amount on his fingers. 

“4,” he repeats. “And you’ll get a really cool cast the kids at school can sign. Maybe you can get one of your parents to make it look like a robot arm.” 

She sniffles, and he can tell she’s on the verge of wailing again when she stiffens against him. He wraps his arm around her, keeping her close and shushing her softly. “You can even get a colored cast,” he whispers, like it’s some big secret. “I bet you can get orange.” 

“Orange?” she parrots. 

“I know that’s your favorite color,” he tells her. 

“Yeah,” she agrees, soft and quiet and not at all like the bouncy, bright little girl in his classroom. He sighs, holding her to him as he watches the distant crowds for Finn. 

It doesn’t take too long to find Poe and the other person Finn had mentioned, apparently. Ben can see three figures running towards the playground, Finn in the lead. By the time they reach the bottom of the hill, a girl’s in front and taking long strides to get to them. She practically skids across the woodchips to get to the little girl, small hands cupping BB’s face and leaning in close. “Oh, sweetheart!” 

“Mama!” BB latches her good arm around the young woman’s neck. Ben watches as the brunette holds her daughter, shifting himself backwards slightly to give them more room. He shuffles back across the woodchips and moves to stand. Poe offers his hand to him, and Ben takes it gratefully, letting himself be pulled up. He smiles sadly at the other man before brushing his shorts free of woodchips. “Broken arm,” he explains. “It looks like a clean break.” 

“Thank you,” Finn wheezes, completely and utterly out of breath. “Thank you so so much for watching her, I have no idea what I would’ve done without you.” 

“It’s no problem, really,” Ben insists, waving him off. “I’m sorry it happened, but I’m glad I was here.” 

“Thank you,” Poe adds, just as breathless as his husband. Ben practically balks as he’s tackled in a hug by the other man. It’s a quick, short thing, but warm and solid before Poe lets him go to drop beside BB. “Hey, baby girl, we’re going to take care of you, okay?” 

She sniffles and nods, and Ben watches as Poe scoops her up into his arms, her small body still wrapped in his hoodie. As soon as she’s tucked into her father’s chest, Ben looks towards the young woman who’s standing beside Finn with her thumb to her mouth, her white teeth worrying at the nail as she watches Poe adjust the little girl so that her arm isn’t in danger of being hurt even more.

“Oh, right, real quick,” Finn says, eyes widening in realization. He gestures between Ben and the young woman quickly. “Ben, Rey. Rey, Ben. Ben’s BB’s teacher. Rey’s ... Rey's our girlfriend, actually.” 

The entire world seems to come to a standstill. He stares at this pretty - no, not pretty, she’s striking, actually - woman, with her dark brown hair and warm brown eyes and slight form. It makes sense, he realizes, why she’s called ‘Mama’ and why there’s a ‘Rey Jakksun’ under BB’s parental contact forms, with its own line drawn freehand. 

Said young woman extends a hand to him. “Sorry it had to be like this,” she explains with a smile that’s borderline embarrassed. Her accent’s vaguely British, and Ben’s instantly charmed by her. “I’ve heard a lot about you.” 

“Rey, we have to go,” Poe says, nodding down towards BB. “We have to get back to the apartment, and get the car, and-“

“Right, right,” Rey mutters, dropping her hand and walking to Poe’s side. “Sorry! Thank you for taking care of her!”

“You’re welcome,” Ben says softly. He points at BB, raising a dark eyebrow at her and giving her the best grin he can given the circumstances. “Orange cast?” 

The soft smile he gets is enough to sate him before she’s whisked away by all three of her parents, Finn and Rey waving back to him with Finn yelling another, “Thank you!” before they’re gone. 

-

BB returns to school the next day with a whole selection of metallic and black Sharpies and a bright orange cast. She’s immediately surrounded by kids who are dying to know what happened, and Ben decides to make a small lesson out of it. He takes some of their story time and lets BB sit in the story chair. He lets her tell them how it happened, how she fell from the monkey bars and how her Daddy and Mr. Solo came to her. The kids stare at him like a hero when she says that he helped her, and his cheeks turn pink slightly when the kids accuse him of being an actual superhero. “No, I’m really-“ 

“Yes, he is!” BB insists. “Super Mr. Solo!” 

Now he’s sure even the tips of his ears are red as the kids dub him ‘Super Mr. Solo’. He guides them quickly into signing her cast, and by the end of it her cast is covered in sloppy initials and first-grader handwriting. 

“Can you sign it too, Mr. Solo?” she asks, holding up a silver Sharpie to him. 

He signs it ‘Super Mr. Solo’ just for fun, and then watches as she goes off to play, the broken arm thankfully being her non-dominant hand so that she can still color pictures of robots. 

-

She’s a bit more careful now, with her cast. He’s sure her parents – all three of them – are watching her like overprotective, extremely attractive hawks. He hasn’t seen a bandaid on her knee in weeks, though there is one on her good arm on Thursday. 

“Luke accidentally scratched me,” she says, by way of explanation. He can suddenly recall her drawings of a yellow lab in her folder, and just nods understandingly. So it wasn’t her fault. Perhaps he’d get a little bit of a break from Disaster Dameron, at least until she gets her cast off. 

He kind of misses the mismatched Disney Priness and Stormtrooper bandaids littering her skin.

\- 

It’s late, and he’s working on water-coloring coffee filters for spring classroom decorations when the phone call comes. He doesn’t recognize the number, but answers anyway, putting it on speaker before setting it down on the dining room table. “Hello?” 

“Hi, is this Super Mr. Solo?” She’s obviously trying not to laugh, giggles poorly hidden. 

He freezes, the brush dripping a mark onto the filter below his hands as his eyes widen in realization. “She told you about that, huh?” he asks, trying to keep his voice from faltering as he goes back to his painting. 

“Are you kidding? She won’t shut up about it,” Rey tells him. “She made Poe draw on her cast to make it look like a robot arm. Covered up everyone’s, insert air quotes here, ‘signature’ except for yours. You’re her hero.” 

“I didn’t really do much,” he insists. “I did what any decent human being would do.” 

“You did more than that,” she replies. “We just wanted to thank you.” 

“It’s fine, really.” He puts the coffee filter to the side, and dips the brush in yellow for the new ‘flower’. 

“Yeah, well, we got a babysitter and we’re taking you out for drinks on Saturday.” 

He freezes again, and this time nearly tips the water cup over. “What?” 

“Unless you’re not free on Saturday. In that case maybe we can get you Sunday brunch or something like that. Either way, we’re buying you food and or drink to thank you.” 

Her tone’s a scary mix between amused and ‘don’t mess with me’, and he swallows around the lump in his throat. “I-I mean, I don’t really think it’s appropriate…”

"Oh, shit. Is it against school rules?” she asks, voice suddenly fearful. “I’m sorry, I didn’t even think about that, is there a policy for this kind of thing?”

He frowns, trying to think through the rulebook, before replying with an, “I don’t think so?”

“Great,” she sighs, relieved. “Are you free on Saturday?” 

He gulps, looking towards the unknown number and resisting the urge to smile. “Not anymore…?” 

“How’s seven?”

-

He really should not be doing this. He’d checked the rulebook, and the slim spiral-bound book didn’t say anything about going out to drinks with parents, but he’s fairly sure that there’s some sort of stigma against it. 

He plays with the cuffs of his blazer, rolling them up before unrolling them and pushing the sleeves up to his elbows before tugging them back down to his wrist, killing time and gathering his nerves before he has to step inside the small, stylish bar that the three had chosen. He’s almost entirely sure it was Poe’s doing; Finn comes off as more humble, and he doesn’t know Rey enough to judge her choice, but the entire establishment oozes class like the elder of BB’s parents. 

“Ben!” 

He nearly jumps out of his skin as he hears the voice behind him, and turns so quickly he almost trips over his ratty black Converse. 

He’s almost entirely sure that Finn’s made of part sunshine and part puppy, because the man’s rushing towards him so quickly he’s sure he’s about to be barreled over. But the young father stops and just grins at him, clapping him on the shoulder and steering him towards the door. “C’mon, we got a table inside. I’m so glad you said yes, I was going to call but I was scared you’d say no so Rey had to do it.” 

“Thank you for inviting me.” It sounds mechanical, even to him, but Finn apparently doesn’t notice as they enter the loud bar. It’s busy, as expected for a Saturday night, and he’s kind of glad that Finn had walked out to get him because he would’ve missed their table entirely. It’s tucked into some back corner, a U-shaped booth with black leather seats and drink menus printed on thick paper. Ben’s back straightens when he sees Rey and Poe, who immediately stop their conversation as soon as he and Finn come into view. 

“Ben, hey!” The older father says, moving to get up from his seat, and Ben flushes bright red. 

“No, no, don’t get up,” he insists, but it’s too late and he’s being pulled into another hug. This one’s a bit longer than the one in the park, now that he doesn’t have an injured daughter to carry away to the emergency room. Ben awkwardly claps the father on the shoulder, trying to gauge what’s appropriate between a teacher and a parent. He has no clue, honestly, but he can’t bring himself to care as Rey slides out of the boot and makes her way to hug him as well. She’s wearing some drapey, gauzy, cream colored thing that’s a stark contrast to the skinny jeans and white t-shirt she’d had on in the park. She hugs him next, arms wrapping around his neck. She’s small against him, impossibly warm, and she pulls away with a bright grin that rivals Finn’s. “Sorry, I should’ve thought about the rules and parents and teachers and-“

“No, no, it’s fine, I don’t think there’s anything against it,” he replies. “I mean, I checked the school policy and Googled to see if our district has anything against it, and didn’t come up with anything. There were only things about teachers and students, obviously.” 

“Well, that’s good,” she says, and he’s hyper-aware of the fact that despite her pulling back, her hands are still on his shoulders. Then they slide off, and Poe’s helping her back into the booth, and Finn’s already slipped inside and is patting the seat next to him while looking at Ben expectantly. 

The teacher manages to fold himself into the booth without too much trouble, though his knees do hit the top of the table and he has to cross his ankles to keep from running into Poe’s or Rey’s feet, but it’s not too bad. 

“Flowers just didn’t seem right,” Poe tells him. “And muffin baskets are just bad.”

“I disagree,” Rey pipes up. “I was in full support of the muffin basket. Muffins are fantastic, don’t diss muffins.” 

Finn just laughs, reaching for his glass of water. 

Ben suddenly wonders how on earth he’d managed to get swept into the company of this strange little three-way relationship, watching as Poe and Rey talk about what would’ve been an appropriate gift to give him as thanks for helping their daughter.

Oh, that’s right. Disaster Dameron. That’s how this happened. 

“It’s fine, really,” he insists quietly, all six eyes turning to him. “I was just doing what anyone would’ve done. She’s my student, after all. I couldn’t just leave her.” 

“You could’ve,” Finn says. “But you didn’t.” 

Ben reaches for his own glass of water, shrugging a bit. His shoulders are broad enough that his blazer stretches uncomfortably with the movement, not fitting quite right on his broad frame. “Taking care of her has become a bit of a normal thing.” 

“She’s not exactly the most lucky of kids,” Poe offers with a sheepish smile. “We’ve tried knee pads, helmets, elbow pads. Pretty much everything short of-“

“Wrapping her in bubble wrap,” Rey finishes. 

Ben snorts, grateful he’d finished swallowing his water. “Disaster Dameron,” he mutters, and it’s only a split second after he says it that he realizes that what was supposed to be a thought comes out as actual words, and he flushes all the way to the tips of his ears. 

“Disaster Dameron?” Poe echoes, a dark brow raised at the elementary teacher, and Ben decides he very much wants to become the first case of Purposeful Spontaneous Combustion.

But then Rey’s giggling, and Finn’s chuckling, and then Poe downright loses it as Ben stares at them in complete and utter shock, ears and cheeks still entirely too red as he wants to sink into the seat. 

“Why didn’t we think of that?!” Poe demands, and Ben lets himself ease up slightly, shoulders falling from where they’d been hunched up to his ears.

“It could apply to you, too,” Finn pipes up, and Ben reaches for his water glass. He hides a smile behind the lip of it as Rey lets out peals of laughter at Poe’s faux-offended look.

They’re bright, all of them, just like their daughter. And perhaps just as chaotic, he thinks as they get all different drinks and split amongst themselves as he sips on his simple, easy highball. He watches as Rey grimaces at Poe’s drink, making Finn and Poe laugh. He even chuckles a bit himself as she slides the glass as far away from her as possible with a “Gah, what the hell is in that?!” before reaching back for her own mint julep. 

“Rey does not like vodka,” Poe explains, grinning at Ben. The teacher tries to ignore the kind of flip-flop-cha-cha that his heart does when he sees that the smile’s for him, and glances back towards Rey who seems much more content with her own drink.

“Whiskey, yes. Bourbon, yes. Rum, yes. Vodka, hell to the no,” the young woman mumbles around a mouthful of ice. Finn seems happy with his own fruity slush thing, while Poe just shrugs and drinks whatever he’d gotten – Ben didn’t care to remember. 

The rest of the night goes a lot smoother than he’d expected it to. He learns that Finn is a photographer, Rey’s in school for engineering and Poe’s the stay-at-home dad who, according to Poe, “spends most of his time cleaning up the other threes’ messes.” 

Ben smiles softly when both Finn and Rey immediately put on the most innocent faces possible as Poe turns to glare at them. The act doesn’t last for long, though, and then they’re laughing at each other and Poe presses a kiss to Rey’s cheek that’s so sweet that Ben wants to avert his eyes, feeling like he’s intruding on some kind of private moment. 

He feels like he’s intruding on a lot of private moments, actually. There are little jokes between them that he’s lost on, looks that he can’t quite decipher, but they’re pretty good at pulling him back into the conversation once he starts to feel even more awkward. Still, the feeling of not belonging doesn’t quite leave, and as the check comes, he has to remind himself that he’s not supposed to feel like he belongs. This is a … triple, he guesses; it’s an intimate, well-oiled three-person relationship that seems to work extraordinarily well if the gestures of affection across the table are anything to go by. 

He reaches for the check when they’re all distracted by Finn pecking Rey’s temple, but then there’s a small hand reaching for his. He blinks in surprise as Rey takes his hand, her small thumb stroking across the back of his. He realizes a bit too late that it’s a diversion tactic, because as soon as Poe snatches the check out from under his fingers she’s letting his hand go with a sweet smile. 

“No, our treat, I thought we’d established this!” Poe insists, sliding his card into the slot and putting the book on the edge of the table. “It’s a thank you, remember?” 

Ben’s sure the tips of his ears are red, and by the looks of Rey’s knowing smile, she’s noticed. “I’m not sure it warrants a thank you,” he says softly. 

“Don’t be stupid,” Poe insists. “Of course it does. You really helped us. We got her to the hospital a lot faster with your help. If Finn had stayed with her, it would’ve taken longer.” 

The younger man nods, and Rey’s still smiling at him. 

“Well, thank you,” Ben mutters awkwardly, and then the waiter comes back with Poe’s card and the drinks are done. He moves out of the booth as gracefully as he can, and waits patiently as Poe stands and helps Rey out of the booth, offering his hand to her. Finn comes out on Ben’s side, much to his surprise, and then Rey’s putting her hand on his arm and smiling up at him. She’s at least a head shorter than him, and he finds himself staring down at her, wide-eyed. 

“We need to do this again,” she says, guiding him towards the exit with Poe and Finn bringing up the rear. “We talked a lot about ourselves, but we didn’t really find out much about you?” 

“There isn’t much to find out,” he tells her. “I was in the Marines when I was younger, just out of college, honorably discharged like Finn, and then began schooling for my teaching degree. I found this job after, and have been teaching ever since.” 

“I don’t care about your job history,” she insists, snorting. “I don’t want a resume.” 

“Oh,” he says simply, surprised. 

They walk outside, and she immediately shivers. The end of March might be a tad warmer, but when night falls it’s still cold. Poe’s immediately there, stripping his jacket and draping it across her shoulders. She shoves her arms into it, and she looks incredibly small in the large jacket. Ben can’t help but wonder how she’d look in his – she’d drown in it, probably. 

“Thanks, Poe,” she says, grinning at her boyfriend before turning back to Ben. “Next time, we do personal questions.” 

“Next time?” he asks, looking to the other two for confirmation. Poe nods eagerly while Finn just smiles and shrugs. 

“Just let us know when you’re free,” Poe says. “I’d love to do it again.” 

Ben just nods dumbly, and from then it’s a series of goodbyes and farewells and ‘see you soon’s. There aren’t any hugs on the way out, just a lot of waving between the three of them, but Ben smiles on the way to the parking garage, his hands shoved into his jean pockets and head fuzzy with something that definitely isn’t alcohol. 

-

BB’s orange cast comes off the end of April. She’s apparently spent more time outside, because when she walks into the classroom the arm that was broken is a good few shades paler than her good arm. She’s hesitant in using it for a bit, still relying on her good arm to help her through most things, but Ben notices she starts to use it more the third day after the cast comes off. 

He asked her how it was, getting it taken off, and she rambles for a good ten minutes on how they used a saw and how she got to keep it and how her Mama went to a special store and got her scrub that smelled like cupcakes to wash her arm with afterwards. It’s no surprise that she’d somehow managed to get a small LEGO up in the cast, probably while she was playing. She goes over into reading time, and he has to speed it up a little bit, hurrying through the illustrations so that they can get to lunch on time. 

-

He realizes with sudden, horrifying clarity about a month after their first drink meetup that he’s pining. Every single time BB smiles, he’s reminded of her parents, and he finds himself thinking off on a tangent for a good fifteen minutes before he can bring himself back down to reality and tell himself that it will never, ever happen. Ever. 

Two’s company, so the saying goes. Three’s a crowd. Four’s downright impossible. He’s not even sure how it would work, intimacy wise, and he really doesn’t want to think about it. Except he does, and his showers have been a lot colder in the past month. 

It gets to the point where he looks at their daughter and nearly cringes, and he’s not as smiley or cheerful with her as he used to be, trying to put just a tiny, teensy bit of distance. He’s a professional, of course, so he thinks he hides it somewhat well, but then she doesn’t want to hold his hand as he walks her to the nurse after a wipeout playing tag and his heart hurts more than it probably should. Of course, it could just be because it’s harder to jump on the tiles in the hallway when he’s holding her hand, but she’s never had a problem before and he watches sadly as she jumps in front of him, favoring the orange tiles above all others.

-

The next time they call, he doesn’t answer, letting it just go to voicemail. It’s apparently Finn who’d called, and his message is cheery and open and asking if Ben’s maybe free on this coming Saturday again? 

Friday comes, Saturday comes, Sunday comes. He hasn’t replied, hoping he can pass it off as being busy. 

Rey calls next, on Tuesday and this time he answers, her number recognizable now. “Hello?” he asks, holding it between his cheek and his shoulder as he grades the stack of addition worksheets he’d given the kids. 

“You didn’t call us back,” she accuses, and he immediately feels awful. 

“I’m sorry, I was really caught up in things,” he lies, wincing at how fake it sounds. 

“It’s okay,” she replies immediately, and oh God these three are too good, too pure for him to even be thinking about them let alone lusting after them. He feels sick to his stomach as she continues to say, “We were wondering if you were good for this Saturday, same place?” 

“I can’t,” he says quickly. “I’m sorry.” 

There’s silence on the other end of the phone, and he knows he said it too fast. He closes his eyes, waiting for her response. 

“All right, no problem,” she finally says. “But we really want to do it again, sometime, so just … let us know when you’re free? It doesn’t have to be for drinks. We could meet in the park sometime, or something like that.” 

“All right,” he replies, and it sounds hollow even to him.

“Great.” He winces at her resigned, somewhat sad tone. “Well, see you soon?” 

“See you soon.” 

“Bye, Super Mr. Solo.” 

The other line clicks, and he tosses his phone down on the dining room table hard enough to chip his case and dent the wood.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I should be working on my homework, but nope I got bitten by some sort of muse-bug and knocked out another 5,000 words. I'm so glad you all like it so far! I definitely have plans to continue. There are maybe 2 or 3 chapters left in my head, and I'm debating whether I should bump the rating up (since my original plans were to have it be fluff mixed with filth) or have it just be an entirely separate piece that accompanies it. Let me know what you think?

The next time he sees the three, it’s at a school function. The very start of May has warmed up just enough that the school can host its annual Spring Picnic. Ben holds up hope that it won’t be rained out like the past three years, since hosting it in the gym means a lot of screaming children in one contained area with shitty acoustics. Thankfully, hoping seems to work, and there are only a few clouds in the sky as he drags plastic, foldable tables out to the lawn just to the side of the school. Miss Jessika has his class for the morning, since he’d been recruited to help set up, and he’s grateful for the break. As lovely as the children are, the promise of their parents coming around lunch time and no work for the day has them a bit too wired for his preference. 

There’s lemonade and cheap sub shop sandwiches for the adults, and parents bring the rest and lunch for their kids. Ben’s leaning against the baked goods table when he sees Finn and Poe sitting with BB, who apparently can’t sit down and instead is running around. It works out well, though, because Ben watches as Rey approaches in a breezy white sundress and a leather jacket that’s definitely not hers. BB runs right into her Mama’s arms, and Rey swings the little girl around before hoisting her onto her hip, grinning as she makes her way towards Finn and Poe. 

Ben turns and helps himself to a few M&M cookies. He hasn’t eaten yet today, his morning routine abruptly ruined with the arrival of very excited younglings. The cookies are a bit dry, but he shrugs and eats them anyway. He takes a few sugar cookies and a sandwich to go as he walks over to the swings, smiling as BB waves at him from the far left. Finn’s behind her, pushing her so hard that Ben’s slightly concerned she’s going to fall. But she doesn’t, and her father continuously reminds her to “Hold on tight, no more flying!” The ‘more’ has Ben smirking, and he wonders exactly what happened last time Finn was pushing his daughter on a swing.

Rey’s next to him, the leather jacket that has to be Poe’s or Finn’s abandoned on the woodchips beside her as she pushes a little boy with blonde hair and limbs too long for his little torso. Cedric, Ben knows, has several undiagnosed social issues and has a mouth that runs for eons, but he’s a really sweet kid, and Rey apparently knows how to handle him because she’s listening to him and not pushing him too high. 

“Here.” 

Ben startles, nearly dropping his cookies when Poe seemingly materializes next to him, holding two Dixie cups of lemonade. Ben gratefully takes one, sipping it. It’s too sweet, too concentrated for his taste, but at least it helps the dryness of his mouth from the cookies and sandwich. 

“We want to apologize,” Poe says. Ben’s not entirely sure he’s heard the man sound so serious, and when he turns to look at him Poe’s unrolling the waxed lip of his cup. 

“For what?” Ben asks, and Poe looks up at him. 

“I know that, in our society, a romantic relationship between three people isn’t exactly normal, and many people … well, they have a few moral issues with it,” Poe explains. “I thought that when you met Rey, you already knew. You didn’t really seem surprised when Finn introduced her as our girlfriend.” 

“I was,” Ben admits. “I was very surprised.” 

“Well, then, I was wrong,” Poe says with a shrug, eyes returning to the lip of the cup. “What we want to tell you is that, if we make you uncomfortable, we’re sorry. We also totally get it, and if that’s why you’re not having dinner or drinks with us, then we completely understand and we won’t offer again. It’s completely our fault for assuming, and I-“

“It’s not that.” 

The words come out before he can stop them, and Poe looks up at him curiously. Ben’s eyes fall to the leftover sugar cookie on his plate, and he pretends to find the rainbow sprinkles on top suddenly very interesting. “It’s not that. I don’t have any problem with that, no problem at all.” 

Poe’s quiet for a moment, before saying, “… if it’s not that, then what is it?” 

Ben pries a red sprinkle off with his thumb. The sugar crumbles beneath his touch, and he sticks his thumb in his mouth to suck it off. When he’s finished, he returns for another sprinkle, not really interested in the cookie itself. “I haven’t really gone out for drinks with anyone since I broke up with my boyfriend.” 

If Poe’s surprised at the word ‘boyfriend’, he doesn’t show it. Instead he just continues looking at Ben, curious. 

“I don’t go out often,” Ben continues, eating a green sprinkle next. “The idea of going out with you three is a little … daunting.” 

“But it’s just us,” Poe insists. 

It’s on the tip of Ben’s tongue to say that’s why, but then BB’s running over and her knee’s scraped again and she looks way, way too happy about it. “Papa, I flew!” 

“I told her not to!” Finn yells from the swing set, Rey laughing nearly hysterically next to him. 

“Oh my God,” Poe mumbles, palm smacking his forehead as he leans down to scoop her up and settle her on his hip. “What am I going to do with you? You’re a princess, not a pilot!” 

“But I want to be a pilot!” BB insists, and Ben hides a smile behind the lemonade cup. 

“Then you fly planes,” Poe insists. “Pilots don’t fly themselves, kid. C’mon, let’s go get you cleaned up.” He looks towards Ben. “Do you have a first-aid kit?” 

“Princesses or Stormtroopers?” Ben asks, and BB chirps happily in Poe’s arms. 

-

For the near-the-end-of-the-year parent-teacher conference at the beginning of May, he gets Rey. She arrives ten minutes late, and so he deals with another mother first. The woman is almost flippant in the way she handles the information, and he realizes that he’s gotten her husband the previous two times; a large but sweet man who’d just nodded quietly and thanked him at the end. The meeting’s over quickly thanks to her attitude, and Ben’s relieved to open the door for her and see Rey waiting across the hall, her messenger bag on her shoulder. She has her hair up in three buns, a pen tucked in one of them. He gestures her inside, giving her the best smile he can. 

“BB’s doing great,” he starts. “She-“ 

“Poe said you didn’t mind us.” 

He stops about halfway into sitting, hovering above the chair in an awkward crouch. He straightens to find her staring at him, arms crossed over her chest almost protectively. 

“Don’t mind you?” he asks, frowning.

“The polyamory,” she says simply, as if it's the most obvious thing in the world. 

“No, I don’t mind it,” he replies quickly. “I don’t mind it at all. I think it’s wonderful that you’ve found two people to love you like that.” 

“Do you really?” she asks, dark brows raising at him. 

“Yes.” It’s a quick answer, and incredibly honest. He can barely imagine one person loving him like that, let alone two. She’s lucky. All three of them are. 

She’s hesitant for a moment, before sitting down in the small blue chair. She fits it better than either of her partners had, due to her small frame, and Ben’s slightly jealous of it as he tries to maneuver himself down into his own chair. 

“How’s our girl?” she asks, the previous conversation seemingly dropped. 

“Great. She’s gotten better at reading comprehension,” Ben explains, and does what he’d done with her partners; he shows her worksheets, and artwork. This time, he explains what they could help BB with over the summer, and recommends a math problem book. “Just a page every other day or so, it doesn’t have to be every day,” Ben suggests. “But it’ll keep her from losing that knowledge to the sunshine.” 

She nods, pulling the pen out of her hair and jotting the name of the book on the back of her hand, much to his amusement. It’s a bit charming, he finds, as she finishes the title with a flourish and sticks the pen back in her top bun. 

“Are you free on Saturday?” she asks as she stands up to leave. 

“I-“ he starts, but then she gets in his space, just a bit, and he freezes, tongue seemingly stuck to the roof of is mouth. 

“Because we really, really want you to join us for dinner at the diner on Calvin Street,” she says, hoisting her messenger bag over her shoulder and adjusting the leather jacket she’s wearing accordingly. “No drinks, no pressure. Just burgers and fries and a milkshake or two. Sound good?” 

“Sounds great,” he finds himself saying. 

He should regret it, he really should, but when her face splits into a smile that’s almost identical to her daughter’s beaming one he can’t bring himself to care. 

“Great,” she says. “Meet you there at 6?” 

“I’ll be there,” he assures her, and if possible her grin broadens. 

“Fantastic.” She holds out her hand. “See you then, Super Mr. Solo.” 

He shakes her hand, and she holds his for perhaps a bit too long before she lets go and leaves. He’s somewhat struck behind her, and it’s only the soft prompting of Cedric’s mother that brings him back to earth. 

-

He dresses casually for Saturday, bringing out ripped jeans he hasn’t worn in months and a plain black t-shirt with his standard Converse. He debates driving there, but decides to walk since it’s a nice evening and the place is only a few blocks from his apartment. He takes his time getting there, having left his apartment a little too early, and by the time he walks up to the door he can see the three inside. This time, Poe’s sitting next to the empty seat he assumes is for him, with Finn and Rey on the other side of the cherry-red booth. 

The door chimes merrily as he steps inside, and it’s kind of hilarious to watch all of their heads turn like birds towards bread. He smiles sheepishly as he walks over. This time it’s more of a struggle to get his knees under the table, and he finds they brush Finn’s no matter how much rearranging he does, so he just goes with it. The man across from him doesn’t seem to mind, practically beaming. 

“You came!” Finn announces, and Ben tries to hide his smile behind his menu, replying with a soft, “Yep.” 

“Told you he would,” Rey says knowingly, and Ben glances at her over his menu. 

They’ve apparently gotten drinks already, and he orders a Coke when the waitress walks over. From there they decide on two fry and onion ring baskets, one for each side of the table, and cheeseburgers. Rey and Finn decide to go with chocolate and vanilla milkshakes to split, while Poe opts out. Ben shakes his head when they offer, not having much of a sweet tooth despite the amount of cookies he consumed at the picnic. 

“Where’s BB?” he asks, glancing at the two across from him. Rey nods her head towards Poe. 

“At her grandfather’s house,” Poe explains. “My dad’s back from Florida for the summer, so he’s taking care of her.”

Ben just nods. “She did really well this year,” he explains. “Jessika’s going to love her next year.”

“I thought you were teaching the first graders next year?” Rey asks, frowning. 

Ben shakes his head. Though he was offered the position once the teacher left for maternity leave and then said she wasn’t coming back, he turned it down and Jessika, the third grade teacher, snapped it up. “No, I’m still teaching kindergarten.” 

“So you won’t be BB’s teacher next year?” Rey clarifies. 

“Unfortunately, no,” Ben admits. “I’m sorry if you thought I would be.” 

They exchange glances, and Ben feels like he’s missing something terribly important as Rey’s face splits into a smile. Finn has his lips wrapped around the white and red striped straw of his milkshake, but Ben swears he’s smiling too. 

“Is that okay?” Ben asks, worried. 

“No, it’s fine!” Finn insists. “We’re a little disappointed, actually. You’re really really good with her. Her preschool teacher hated that she was so accident prone.” 

“Well, I don’t really like seeing her hurt, but she doesn’t seem to mind it and it means she’s having fun on the way down?” Ben offers, unsure how to respond to that comment. “A few knee scrapes is common. The amount of injuries she gets is a little worrying at times, but if she’s having fun that’s all that matters, right?” 

“Right,” Poe replies. Rey’s still smiling, but now her lips are also wrapped around the straw of her milkshake. As she takes a sip, she downright moans, and Ben can feel his cheeks flush. He’s sure the tips of his ears are red, too, and he’s just grateful his blood is rushing to his face instead of elsewhere. 

“Oh my God, I forgot how good these are,” she says, and Ben blinks as the milkshake’s pushed towards him suddenly. 

“Um-“ he starts. 

“You have to try it, it’s awesome,” she insists. 

“All right?” he asks, glancing around for the waitress. “I’ll just get another straw and-"

“Don’t worry about it, I don’t care. Unless you do?” she asks, brow furrowing in worry.

He blinks at her. “N-no, I don’t mind,” he replies, and then bends, lips finding the straw. He sucks, and even though he’s not much of a sweet person, it is pretty damn good. He hums softly, taking one more sip before letting the straw go and pushing the milkshake back towards her. “I have to admit, that’s good.” 

“See!” Rey insists, taking the glass back. “It’s good!” 

She’s so enthusiastic about the milkshake that he has to laugh, and he watches as she sucks it through the straw eagerly, wincing almost immediately afterwards. 

Poe cracks up, and Finn turns to her with a smile. “Brain freeze?” he asks, laughing at her pained nod. 

“Stick your thumb to the roof of your mouth,” Ben suggests. She does as suggested, her pained face disappearing after a few minutes. 

“Thanks,” she tells him once she’s removed her finger from her mouth, and he just nods as their food comes. She steals an onion ring immediately while he takes a fry from the other basket. 

“How did you meet?” he asks, glancing between the three. 

“Finn’s been my best friend since high school,” Rey explains after she finishes the onion ring. 

“We were each other’s prom dates,” Finn adds. 

“And then Finn went off to train for the SEALs,” Rey continues. “And met Poe there.”

“I was a pilot,” Poe explains. “We were stationed at the same base for a few months. Different sections since I was doing flight training and he was doing basics, but same base.” 

“Love at first sight,” Finn teases. 

“So that’s why you fell flat on your face during the obstacle course,” Poe teases. 

Ben’s expecting Finn to blush or protest or something, but the man just shrugs and dips a fry in his milkshake. “Guilty.” 

“He was honorably discharged after he hurt his back badly,” Poe says, tone more serious. “They were surprised he wasn’t paralyzed.”

“He was discharged a year later,” Finn explains. “I offered to let him sleep on our couch until he found a place.” Ben’s amused to see the man’s cheeks darken ever so slightly; with the pigment of the other man’s skin, Ben’s surprised he can even see the blush at all. Finn must be turning Ben’s equivalent of bright pink. “And then things happened, and he kind of … moved into my room?” 

“More like your bed,” Rey says cheerfully from the other side of the table, dipping a fry in Finn’s milkshake before popping it into her mouth. 

Finn just smiles sheepishly. “We got married a year and a half later.” 

“And then I came in,” Rey pipes up, grinning. 

“It was less of a transition than we’d thought,” Poe offers, reaching across the table to take her hand. “It started out as kind of an experiment. She’d become our best friend anyway, and we trusted her more than anyone else. Then it went from there, and now she’s our girlfriend.” 

“We would marry her if it was acceptable,” Finn offers. 

Rey holds the hand Poe isn't holding up, her left one, and Ben notices for the first time the simple gold band that she wears. He can just barely see the small diamonds set into it, almost miniscule. “A promise ring’s enough for me,” she says with a shrug before going back to sip at her milkshake. 

They’re quiet for a moment, story obviously finished. Ben blinks, eyes flicking between the three of them. Poe and Finn are looking at him expectantly, while Rey seems to be very happy with her eyes on her food. 

“Huh,” he says, because how does one reply to that? “Well, I’m glad it worked out well.” 

“I think it worked out a little better than well,” Poe says, grinning and letting go of Rey’s hand to grab at Finn’s. 

Ben feels like he’s been booted out again, and instead reaches for a few fries to dump onto his plate. He keeps his head down, eyes focused on his food as he dips a fry into his ketchup. 

“Sorry if it’s uncomfortable for you, to be with us,” Finn says suddenly, and Ben’s head shoots up. The other man is looking at him with … not exactly pity, but not exactly sympathy either. It’s more like concern. Ben shakes his head. 

“No, it’s fine, really. I just don’t have that many friends outside of the faculty lounge,” he teases. “And even those are few.”

Finn smiles at him, and Ben curses his heart when it skips a beat at the warmth that comes from the man across from him. “Well, we can be your friends. If you want, of course,” he adds quickly. 

“I’d like that,” Ben finds himself saying before he can stop himself, and he jumps, hitting his knees on the underside of the table as Poe whoops loud enough for half the diner to hear. 

“Sorry, sorry!” he insists, laughing and holding his hands up as both his lovers and Ben stare at him with wide, surprised eyes. “Got a little excited!” He bumps his shoulder against Ben’s. “Seriously, we’re gonna have fun. BB loves you, which means once the school year is over you can come over.” 

“I can?” Ben asks, blinking in surprise. 

“Well, yeah, she won’t be your student anymore, right?” Poe asks. “Which makes it less awkward, right?” 

“Right?” he asks, not entirely sure about the other man’s logic but willing to think on it all the same. 

“Great. Summer cookouts,” Poe declares, grinning brightly. “Done.”

-

Some time between finishing his burger and reaching for more fries, Rey takes it upon herself to question him.

“So, Poe said you had a boyfriend?” she asks, and then yelps. “Ow, why’d you kick me?!” she hisses, glaring at Poe across the table. 

“I said had,” Poe hisses back, emphasis on ‘had’. 

It’s actually pretty entertaining to see her brain put two and two together, because as soon as she realizes what he meant the onion ring drops from her fingers to the basket below. “Oh, shit,” she mutters, eyes going wide as she looks over at Ben. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize-“

“It’s fine, it was a while ago,” Ben insists, smiling as best as he can to put her at ease. “He’s not even in the city anymore, so it’s fine.” 

“I’m sorry,” she apologizes again, and he shakes his head. 

“It’s all right, really. It was his decision, and I’ve accepted it,” he mutters, poking around his own basket of onion rings and fries to find a small, crispy bit. “It’s fine.” 

He looks up when there’s a cold touch to his hand, and finds Rey’s half-finished milkshake against the side of his hand. “Milkshake,” she insists. “It’ll make you feel better.” 

“Rey,” Poe says sternly. 

But Ben just smiles and bends, taking a sip of the milkshake again without any hesitation this time. He can just barely taste her Chapstick on the straw, and when he pulls back he can see the pink of it on the plastic. He takes one more sip before passing it back to her. “Thanks,” he says. “It did help.” 

“See?” Rey asks, looking towards Poe and grinning brightly. 

Poe just gives her a look that Ben can’t entirely decipher, but he does know that Rey’s smile gets significantly more cheeky after he gives it to her, and she just starts to drink the shake again. 

“Is teaching all you do?” Finn asks, and Ben nods. 

“I used to write,” Ben says. “But I don’t have much time for it these days. Most of my time is dedicated to grading and coming up with things for them to do.” 

“Makes sense,” Poe admits. “What did you write?” 

“Short stories, mostly. I had a novel in the works, but that’s pretty much done now,” Ben says with a shrug. “I just don’t have time.” 

“I’d love to read some,” the ex-pilot says, and Ben stares at him. 

“Really?” he asks. 

Poe nods. “Yeah, sure, gotta read something while the washing machine is going,” he teases. “Why don’t you send some over? I’ll text you my email address.” 

“Sure,” Ben replies, breathless at the idea of someone actually being interested in reading his work. “That would be great, yeah.” 

“I’m no critic,” Poe insists. “I’d just like to read it.” 

“Doesn’t matter to me,” the teacher replies, giving the other man a small smile. The grin Poe gives him back is near blinding, and again Ben curses his heart for starting up again at the sight of it. 

The waitress comes with the check a few moments later, and despite Ben’s insistence and scramble for the sheet of paper, Rey’s fingers are quicker and she grins as she nearly climbs over Finn to go to the register. “I got it, I got it,” she says, glancing at Ben as Finn presses himself against the booth to let her out. “You’re not paying for all three of us, Super Mr. Solo. We’ve got this.” 

Ben resists the urge to groan as she reveals that she’s wearing skinny jeans again, showing off her fantastic ass as she climbs over her boyfriend to pay. Poe’s laughing as she nearly trips over Ben’s feet under the table, and the teacher turns bright pink as he quickly tucks his feet in. “Sorry, sorry!” 

She snorts, shaking her head as she catches her balance again. “It’s fine – your legs are that long?” she asks, grinning at him before going to go pay. 

He’s pretty sure he’s going to die here. He’s going to die here from his heart having spasms every fifteen seconds, and he’s going to die happy. 

When she returns, Finn hands her her bag, and Ben climbs out to let Poe out from the booth. They walk to the small parking lot just outside of the diner before Ben jerks his thumb towards the direction of his apartment. 

“I’m that way – I walked,” he explains. 

“Want us to drive you?” Poe offers. “It’s not a big ride, but it can fit the four of us.” 

He shakes his head. “I just ate more fries than I think I have in two years,” he admits. “I need the exercise.” 

Ben’s surprised into stillness when Rey hugs him, her arms twining around his neck and pulling him down to her level. He registers that she has to go up on her tiptoes to hug him properly, and he bends to accommodate her. Despite his better judgment, he wraps his arms around her and hugs her back. 

“Thanks for giving us a try,” she says quietly, just loud enough for Poe and Finn to hear her. “I know it’s strange, but-“ 

“It’s wonderful,” he interrupts, pulling back just a bit to look her in the eyes. “You’re all very lucky to have each other.” 

He doesn’t miss the look between the three of them, but he can’t tell what it means. It’s over in a second, and then Finn’s moving in to hug him as well. The man’s strong; Ben can feel the muscles of his shoulders as he gives him a friendly pat on the back. Poe’s shoulders are less muscular, but his chest is firmer, and Ben guesses that makes up for it as the ex-pilot pulls back with a grin. 

“Let us know when you’re free next, or we’ll call you insistently, all right?” he asks, patting Ben on the shoulder. The helpless teacher just nods, giving a short little wave as they start to walk away. Rey and Finn throw waves over their shoulders occasionally, and Rey waves from the passenger seat as they drive back towards their home. 

He’s incredibly grateful that his knees don’t collapse on the way back to the apartment, because he feels like they’re damn near going to. He takes the elevator instead of the stairs up to the 4th floor for once, unsure of his own stability. And then he collapses on his bed, buries his face in his pillow, and groans deeply. 

He’s fucked. Totally and utterly fucked for three people he can never, ever have. 

-

BB’s, coincidentally, a bee in the spring play. She wears a yellow leotard with black felt stripes hot-glued onto it, and black and yellow striped tights with black ballet shoes. Her little head-bottle antennae things are silver and glittery, and the left one keeps on popping off. After three applications of Elmers glue in the weeks leading up to the production, Ben finally brings a tube of super glue and secures the glittery foam ball to the spring as BB watches, rocking on her feet with her hands behind her back. 

“There you go, sweetheart,” he says, reaching up to secure the headband back on her head. “All right, off you go to the dress rehearsal. What’re your lines again?” 

“Buzz! Buzz buzz beep!” she replies, grinning brightly. 

“No, robots go beep, bees go buzz. I don’t want any robo-bees, all right?” he explains, poking at her nose just to see it crinkle. He’s not entirely sure if Rey is her biological mother, but the two have the same freckles across their nose, and it makes him smile to see them disappear as BB’s nose crinkles at his touch. 

“Okay, Mr. Solo!” she insists before rushing off to the auditorium down the hall. 

Ben sighs, tucking the super glue back into the drawer. Knowing BB, something disastrous is going to happen with the production, but he will do everything in his power to make sure it goes smoothly. So far so good, but the show’s in a mere three hours with the final dress rehearsal having started ten minutes ago. 

“Hey, Ben.” 

He looks up sharply. His eyes find the speaker nearly immediately; Rey’s leaning against the doorway, her arms crossed over her chest and a black sweater draped over them. She’s wearing a yellow sundress and black flip flops; he wouldn’t put it past the three to match their daughter just to be adorable. 

“I thought you were BB for a moment with that outfit,” he says teasingly, standing. “You’re early.” 

She pushes herself off of the doorframe with a shrug. “Had nowhere else to be. Figured I’d get here early to help with the bake sale. It’s outside the auditorium, right?” she asks. 

“Right,” he replies, walking over. “Did you match on purpose?” 

“Mhm.” She smiles up at him. It’s always striking how short she is to him, no matter how many times he’s looked down at her in the past month. They’d gone out to dinner three times, and brunch once so far. He knows her favorite color is green, that Poe hates peppers so Finn and Rey eat them, and that Finn’s a slut for chocolate chip banana pancakes. They know that he has more books on his shelves than food in his fridge, that his original career path had been marine biology before he didn’t get into any of the colleges he’d wanted, and that he breaks his glasses an average of two times a year thanks to being around so many kids. 

“Poe and Finn, too?”

“Do you know how hard it is to find yellow dress shirts for men on a short time limit?” she asks, poking him in the chest. “Very hard. But yes, the king bees will be here in a few hours.”

He has to laugh at that, pushing his glasses up his nose as they start to slip slightly. He turns to lean against the counter that runs along the side of the room. “… I’ve been meaning to ask you something,” he says softly, trying to figure out how to ask the question that’s been nagging at his mind for quite some time. 

She raises both dark brows at him. “Yeah, what’s up?” 

He reaches up to run a hand through his hair. “I guess it’s a little personal to ask, but is … is BB actually your biological daughter?” 

She stares at him for a long moment before asking, “Are you asking if she’s mine, or if she’s any of ours?”

“Any of yours, I guess.” 

“Poe’s,” she replies softly. “She’s Poe’s.” 

“Is she?” he asks, his turn to raise both brows at her. “She looks like you.” 

“We get that a lot,” she says, voice still quiet. “But, no, she’s Poe’s.” 

He hesitates, staring at her. “And … her mother?”

“Is no longer part of the picture,” Rey replies. “But that’s a story Poe needs to tell you. It’s not mine to tell.” 

“Right,” Ben says, nodding and suddenly feeling very, very awkward. “Thank you. I was just … I noticed she has your freckles.” 

“I know,” she says, grinning. “I don’t know how, but she got them. It could be that the kid loves running around outside, too.” 

“True.” He knows this all too well by now. He looks down at the young woman in front of him. “So. Last day’s in a week.” 

“And then you won’t be her teacher anymore,” Rey replies. 

“And then I won’t be her teacher anymore,” he repeats, smiling back at her. 

“Which is wonderful.” 

His smile drops almost immediately. “Wait, what? No, I love teaching her, she’s wonderful, she’s fantastic – I’m going to miss her, actually, I-“ 

“Ben,” Rey interrupts. “You’ll still see her. Summer cookouts, remember?” 

“… right,” he replies, reaching up to run a hand through his hair again. “I didn’t know those were serious.” 

“You’ll be seeing us a lot,” Rey says, grinning up at him. “If you don’t mind, that is.” 

“I don’t mind at all,” he replies. 

“Great.” 

“Great.” 

There’s half a heartbeat of silence before Rey stretches up on her toes, leaning into him. He barely registers her lips brushing against his jaw, her being too short to really reach his cheek. Her lips linger there for a moment, soft against his skin. He’s frozen, shocked still as she moves back down as if it was nothing at all. 

“Thank you for taking such good care of her,” she says softly in that charming little accent of hers. “You’re the best teacher she’s had, and I’m sure that title will carry through the next few years.” She shifts the sweater in her arms, smiling up at him. “I should go help with the bake sale. I’ll see you after the show? I’m sure Finn and Poe would love to see you.” 

He can only gape at her for another moment before his mouth promptly clicks shut and he nods. “Y-yeah,” he stutters. “Yeah, I’ll see you after.” 

“Great,” she says again, giving him a little wave before walking out of the classroom. As soon as she turns the corner, it’s like the sunshine’s been sucked out of the room, and he’s left in terrifying darkness as he stares at where she once was and lifts his fingers to his jaw. He can feel whatever she’d swiped across her lips, slick against his fingertips. He wants to feel elated, wants to feel gloriously happy and wonderful and all sorts of things. But his heart isn’t flipping or skipping a beat; it’s sinking as he stares at the empty doorway as he wonders if a cheek kiss counts as cheating.


	3. Chapter 3

He, miraculously, has a perfectly good excuse for avoiding the three and their daughter after the show. He has to help clean up the stage, has to put all the costumes back, and has to get the other kids to their parents. 

To his surprise, the show had gone off without a hitch (unless you count little Rory’s pig tail getting caught on Cedric’s donkey tail mid-barnyard dance) and he has to admit he’s exhausted by the end of the day. He takes his time hanging up the costumes in the back room, lingering perhaps a bit too long and straightening a few too many tutus. He can feel his phone buzz in his pocket; once, twice. He’s damn near sure it’s one of them, but he ignores it, knowing he can come up with something the next time they meet for dinner. By the time he comes out of school, his blazer draped over his arm and his backpack over his shoulder, it’s dark and they’re nowhere to be seen. 

-

Their next meeting’s the following Saturday, at some little café/diner place just down the street from his apartment. He walks there, again, in black jeans and a white t-shirt and red Converse this time, heart pounding in his chest as he opens the door and searches for the three. 

He feels downright awful when he feels an instant wave of relief at Rey’s absence. Poe and Finn are sitting next to each other, though, so if she does come he’ll have to sit next to her. He puts on the best smile he can muster as he walks towards them, Finn waving enthusiastically. 

“Hey, Rey’s running a little late. She was helping some of the freshman on their big projects,” Poe explains as Ben slips into the booth. “Sorry.” 

“It’s fine,” he says softly, reaching for the menu. 

“Are you all right?” Finn asks, frowning. 

No. No, he’s very much not. He can barely look at them. The place on his jaw where she’d kissed him has burned like a brand over the past few days, a constant reminder. Google was no help, explaining cheek kisses as both flippant expressions of friendliness and then something entirely more as well. He’s torn, and he’s tired, and as he glances up at the two men looking at him with concerned eyes he feels his heart hurt just a little more. 

“I’m sorry, I-“ he starts, but then the door chimes and Rey rushes in like a hurricane, all smiles and loose hair curling around her shoulders. She has grease all over her light blue t-shirt, and he’s sure if he looked closely he’d see some on her dark wash jeans as well. She has grease on her cheek as well, and high up on her forehead. She grins as she leans across the table to kiss Poe and Finn, soft and sweet. “Sorry I’m late,” she breathes. “Crisis in the welding labs.” 

“It’s fine,” Ben and Finn insist at the same time. Finn’s is easy, cheerful and happy to see his girlfriend, whereas Ben’s reply sounds choked. 

Rey slips in beside him, and he can feel her shoulder brush against his bicep as she scoots just a bit closer. “Thanks,” she says, laughing and nearly leaning against him. He’s stiff as a board, his face somehow somewhere between paling and flushing, and his heart’s thumping a mile a minute in his chest cavity. He wants to pull it out and throw it in a dumpster somewhere. That’ll solve all his problems, certainly. 

The two men across from him don’t seem to mind their girlfriend’s closeness to the teacher, just smiling at the both of them. 

“So,” Poe says once they’ve ordered, crossing his arms and leaning across the table. “We have big news.” 

“Big news?” Ben echoes, looking between the three. 

“We’re moving,” Finn tells him. 

For seemingly the thousandth time in the company of these three beautiful people, the entire world seems to come to a halt. His breath catches in his throat. “What?” 

“Just outside the city,” Poe insists, holding his hands up. “There are a bunch of townhouses that were just built on Elliot. They don’t have big yards, but it’s enough to let her run around a little bit and let Rey have a garden. We’re still in the district, don’t worry, you’ll still see BB at school. It’s only about fifteen minutes away from here.” 

“We’re moving everything tomorrow,” Rey tells him, and he turns to see her practically beaming. “BB’s going to stay at her grandfather’s while we get everything set up. He’ll drop her off at school for the next few days until we get everything.”

“And we’re having a housewarming party next weekend, the Saturday after the the one after the last day of school,” Finn pipes up, before frowning. "That was a mouthful."

“We want you there,” Poe says. It sounds like a demand, but it’s said with a grin that makes Ben’s cheeks warm. 

“I think I can make it?” he offers, and the way they smile at him makes him want to simultaneously jump from a building and fly from the top of one. 

-

The last day of school is always an emotional affair, at least to him. Kids don’t want to leave the classroom, caught on the routine and regularity that comes with it. But eventually they leave, and the cubbies are empty, and he’s left with bare desks that still need the nametags peeled off and walls devoid of artwork as the parents took it home. 

Back in his early years, he used to get out of there as fast as possible, grabbing his backpack and leaving as soon as he possibly could, eager for summer just as much as the kids. But now he stands in the room, eyes taking in the sad stillness that’ll be completely and utterly destroyed come September. 

“Mr. Solo!” 

And there she is. Standing in the doorway with her little R2-D2 backpack in Finn’s hand, Poe holding her lunchbox and Rey holding the rest of the few things she’d had in her cubby. Then she’s barreling towards him, and he’s kneeling, opening his arms to her as she rushes into them. The rest of the kids had hugged him, sure, but they’d been short and brief, the kids eager to get back to their parents and their vacation. 

BB’s hug is a lot longer, her little arms wrapped around his neck as she goes up on her tiptoes to hug him as best as she can. “I don’t want a new teacher!” 

He laughs softly, large hands spanning the entirety of her back as he hugs her close. “You’ll like Miss Jessika, I promise. And I can come and visit you sometimes. You’re just across the hall, remember, silly?” 

“Oh,” she says, and then she’s pulling back, looking up at him with bright blue eyes that, now that he really takes the time to think about it, don’t belong to any of her three parents. “Okay! Mama, Daddy and Papa say you’ll be coming over a lot, too!” 

He glances up at her parents. Poe raises his hand. “Guilty,” he calls, Finn and Rey shrugging beside him. 

“I will,” Ben replies, and he doesn’t mean to make it sound like a promise but it does anyway. 

“Yay!” she cries, and then she’s hugging him again. He gives her one last squeeze before letting her go, letting her run back to her parents. Finn hands the backpack to Poe and bends to scoop her up, swinging her onto his hip with practiced ease. 

“See you next Saturday? It’s starting at 3,” Poe asks, and Ben nods. 

“Can I bring anything?” 

“Just your handsome self,” the ex-pilot replies with a grin that’s bordering on flirtatious, and Ben’s sure his eyes are wide and his cheeks are red as the man winks at him. “C’mon, kid, let’s go get some lunch.” 

“Okay!” 

Ben watches as they leave, offering a weak wave and a weaker smile as they go. 

-

Rey texts him the address that night with a smiley face emoji and a ‘See you there!’ with perhaps a few more exclamation marks than strictly necessary. He smiles at it before putting his worksheets and papers away, heading to bed soon after. 

-

The drive there isn’t bad. It’s nice to get out on his motorbike while the weather’s nice, not a single cloud in the sky as he drives the main road to their new house. It’s obvious that the street’s been pulled up and redone, the sidewalks bright with new cement and the trees in front of the houses sparse and young. He finds a place to park his bike, forever grateful that it’s small enough to fit into tight spots without trouble, and when he pulls the helmet from his head he finds Poe walking down the steps to greet him. The man looks fantastic in a grey henley t-shirt. Ben’s slightly scandalized to see that the older father has what the teacher can only describe as sex hair, and his smile is sated and lazy. “Hey,” he says, walking up to hug the taller man. Ben hugs him back, their embrace familiar and comforting after so many dinner and brunches. 

“Hey yourself, how’s it going?” Ben asks, pulling back. Poe grins up at him, happy as a clam. 

“Pretty good, pretty good,” the father says, hands moving to his pockets. “C’mon, let me show you the place.” He leads Ben up the stairs, and opens the door. Almost immediately there’s a young yellow lab bounding towards him, barely coming up to Ben’s knee but scratching at his jeans. 

“Luke!” Rey scolds from the next room over. “Luke, down!” 

Ben watches as Poe scoops the puppy up with a grunt, holding the dog as he licks Poe’s unshaven face. 

“Hey, hey, stop it, bud, no kisses right now,” Poe mutters. “I’m sorry, I thought Rey would've put him in his crate you came.” 

"Kinda busy!" Rey calls. 

“It’s fine,” Ben insists, smiling as he reaches up to stroke the little puppy’s head. The dog almost immediately turns towards him, pink tongue lapping at Ben’s palm and licking between his fingers. His smile turns into an outright grin as the pup seems intent on licking every single inch of skin, getting down to Ben’s wrist before he stops and whines softly. 

“His sister’s around here somewhere. Probably outside with BB,” Poe explains as he sets the puppy down again. Luke goes to jump back on Ben, but is stopped with a stern, “No,” from Poe. 

“Sister?” Ben asks. 

“Leia – chocolate lab,” Poe offers, smile sheepish. 

“… you’re kidding me.” 

“It was Finn’s idea,” Rey says, coming around the corner. Ben’s breath catches in his throat. She’s entirely casual, wearing some kind of cream romper with a denim shirt over top, but her hair’s down and he can see that she’s wearing makeup and she looks downright gorgeous as she walks over. 

He’s expecting a hug from her, as usual, but this time she grabs his bicep and tugs him down. He’s level with her when she kisses his cheek. She lingers a bit longer than she had in the classroom, pulling back after a moment with her lips against his skin. He stares at her, eyes wide as she pulls back with a smile. He looks to see if Poe’d seen, but the father’s apparently gone chasing after the pup because he can hear Poe’s voice calling, “BB, leave him alone!” from the backyard. 

“Thanks for coming,” Rey says softly. “Mind helping me mix the lemonade?” 

He’s not entirely sure how he makes his voice work, but he manages a “Yeah, sure,” and then she’s taking his hand and leading him to the kitchen. 

“Poe’s father’s coming,” she explains. “But that should be it.” 

“Really?” Ben asks, surprised. The idea of a housewarming party had always seemed a bit bigger to him, a large shindig with lots of people. 

“Most of Poe’s friends are back in Arizona,” Rey explains as she reaches for the mix. She’s just a bit too short, so Ben reaches up for her and hands her the carton. “Thanks!” 

“So it’s just us?” he asks. 

“Just us,” she says, grinning brightly. “We haven’t exactly made a lot of friends here.” 

“Really?” he asks again. “I can’t imagine why.” 

She pulls a glass drink dispenser closer to her. It’s one of the big gallon ones that looks kind of like a mason jar, a metal tap at the bottom for easy distribution. Halfway into dumping the mix into the dispenser, she glances up at him. “… you can’t guess?” she questions, and her voice is impossibly quiet and shy. He decides he doesn’t like this side of her, soft spoken and unsure. He likes her smiling, assertive and confident. She’s none of those now, shoulders hunching as she shakes the dispenser to distribute the mix. 

“Do people really have that much of a problem with it?” He leans back against the counter as she pours the rest of the yellow powder and then goes to fill the dispenser with water from the fridge. 

“You’d be surprised,” she admits quietly, setting the now full container on the counter before grabbing a large yellow plastic spoon to mix it with. “Would you mind getting the lemons and mint? The mint’s on a paper towel around here somewhere, lemons are in the bowl to the right of the fridge.” 

He does as asked, grabbing the fruit and the mint. She hands him a knife. “Slices, please,” she tells him, and he nods as he grabs a nearby cutting board and starts to slice. “It’s not normal. People don’t like not normal. They get Poe and Finn, but then you add me and it’s a bit more complicated. They can’t wrap their heads around loving more than one person that way.”

He’s quiet as he finishes one of the lemons, dumping the slices into the dispenser. “… I’m sorry.” 

“Don’t be,” she insists, turning towards him. She grabs the mint and starts pulling the leaves off, dumping them into the lemonade before stirring the drink more. “I’d rather have Poe and Finn than twelve friends who don’t approve of them. And besides, we have you, now.” 

She says it so simply, so offhandedly that he’s startled by it. He nearly cuts his finger with the knife when he hears a loud, “Mr. Solo!” and he’s almost tackled by a tiny, very wet BB. 

“Stop, sweetheart!” Poe calls. “Do you see what he has in his hand?” 

“A knife,” she says, nearly skidding across the hardwood floor on slick, grass-covered feet. 

“And what do we do when people we love have knives in their hand?” 

“We wait for them to put them down,” she replies matter-of-factly, and Ben’s heart feels like it’s in his throat when Poe says ‘people we love’. 

“Right,” Poe says, walking around. “You’re tracking grass everywhere, kid,” he says fondly as he walks around the island to wrap Rey into his arms. She puts twigs of mint down before turning in his arms and lacing her fingers behind his neck, pulling him down for a slow, deep kiss. Ben averts his eyes, putting the knife down so that he can greet BB properly. 

“Hi there, BB, how are you doing? Liking summer so far?” he asks, bending and bracing his hands on his knees so that he’s almost at her level. 

“Yeah!” she says, grinning. Grass is littering much of her skin, and he can count three bandaids, two on each knee and one on her elbow. She’s pretty much dripping on the hardwood floor of the kitchen, light brown hair not quite soaked yet but almost there. He smiles at her Finding Nemo onepiece bathing suit: Dory, Nemo and his father Marlin scattered across the fabric along with seashells, seaweed and other sea-related things. 

“Why are you wet, sweetheart?” he asks her. His question results in her bouncing up and down, and its by sheer dumb luck that he reaches out to catch her right before she slips and falls to the floor. Poe and Rey disentangle themselves and turn at the loud ‘squeak’ her slippery feet make against the hardwood, and Ben darts forward to grab her around her little waist. He swings her up onto his hip, sweet-smelling hose water soaking through his white t-shirt and the top of his jeans, but he doesn’t mind if it means she doesn’t crack her head open on the floor. 

Poe walks up almost immediately, sighing in relief when he sees that she didn't actually connect with the wood. “BB, sweetheart, you need shoes next time you come into the house, okay? Where are your sandals?” 

“I took them off,” she says simply, and Ben snorts at the answer as he holds her in his arms. Poe shakes his head and reaches out his hands, taking her from him. Ben’s t-shirt clings to his skin, now, nearly transparent and covered in grass on his right side. 

“I’m so sorry,” Poe says. “We’ve unpacked our clothes upstairs, if you want to borrow a shirt.” 

But the teacher just shakes his head, smiling. “It’s fine, don’t worry about it. It’s not the worst thing I’ve had on me by far. It’ll dry.” 

Poe shrugs. “Offer stands,” he says as he holds BB away from him, much to her delight as she dangles. “All right, wet one, back outside you go. Tell Daddy he needs to put shoes on you. I don’t want you slipping.” 

“Okay!” she says as he sets her down on the concrete patio. Ben can see through the glass door as she takes off again, rushing towards the turtle that’s spouting water from strategic holes in his shell. 

Poe sighs as he walks back, opening his hands. “Towel?” he calls, and Rey walks back into what Ben can see is the laundry room, returning with a ratty grey towel that she tosses to her boyfriend. Poe drops it on the floor and uses his foot to wipe up the trail that his daughter’d made. “That kid has selective hearing, I swear,” he mutters as he mops up the water and grass from the floor. 

Rey just smiles, looking towards Ben. “Mind helping me with the salad? I have the lettuce, cucumbers and onion – I just need the carrots, tomatoes and peppers.” 

“Blech,” Poe grumbles from where he’s nearly sliding across the floor with the help of the towel beneath his feed. Ben watches, amused as Rey puts her hands on her slim hips and gives him a look. 

“You can pick them out.” 

“Too late – already contaminated.”

“I haven’t even cut the damn things.” 

“Still too late.” 

Ben snorts, watching the interaction between girlfriend and boyfriend with a grin. Rey rolls her eyes, moving to the fridge to grab the rest of the vegetables. She sets the carrots down in front of Ben, grabbing the grater from the drawer and handing it to him. “If you wouldn’t mind?”

“Not at all,” he mutters as he takes the carrots and the grater. He watches out of the corner of his eye as she grabs the cherry tomatoes, cutting them in half and tossing them into a nearby wooden bowl. 

They make a good team. By the time he’s finished with the carrots, Poe has left to go outside. Ben can hear BB’s delighted shrieks from the yard, and looks up just in time to see a small chocolate lab puppy make its way into the house, trotting across the floor over to the water bowls set out. 

“How long have you had the dogs?” he asks as he brushes the carrots into the bowl. 

“They were her Christmas present,” Rey explains as she finishes up with the tomatoes and hands him a red bell pepper. “And also kind of Poe’s.” 

“They’re adorable,” he says, and she grins as she starts on a yellow pepper. 

“They’re a handful,” she replies. “That’s why we bought the house – so that we could have the dogs. The apartment allowed pets, but it wasn’t as good for them. They can run more here.” 

“Makes sense,” he commends as he looks over to see how she’s cutting hers. He cuts it into strips as well, before cutting those in half and tossing them into the bowl.

The comfortable silence that follows is cut with the sudden cheery ringing of someone’s cell phone. Rey’s head snaps up, and she leans forward to call, “Poe! Phone!” 

“On it!” the father calls back, hopping inside. Ben notices that his henley is speckled with water, and the hems of his jeans are dotted with grass. He rushes into the other room, doing a strange hop-skip thing to avoid slipping on the still-damp floor. Ben watches as he disappears into the other room, and the ringing stops. “Hey, Dad!” 

Rey turns and walks to the fridge to grab the dressing, handing it to Ben. “Carry this?” she asks. “I’ll get the salad.” 

“Sure.” He takes the bottle from her and walks outside. 

It’s in process, definitely. There’s a pile of stones to the side, still wrapped in plastic, with a small plot of dirt right beside it. There are a few pots, too, price stickers still on the side and bags of soil stacked near them. He finds the table easily enough, putting the bottle next to the large empty space where he assumes the salad’s going to go. Rey comes out a moment later, and he takes the bowl from her to set it down. 

He turns towards the happy shriek that echoes through the yard a moment later, and stares as he sees Finn in swim trunks and no shirt with BB hopping through the water coming through her turtle sprinkler. 

“Hey, Ben!” The father calls, waving at him. Ben stares openly at the man who’s grinning at him, taking in Finn’s dark skin sprinkled with water and his strong chest. Whatever he’d done in the military, he must’ve kept up with it somewhat, because Ben’s seeing muscles - a lot of them. He tries to keep from salivating, because Finn's grinning and waving innocently and he should really not be lusting after a man in a very, very closed relationship the way he is right now. Ben waves back, offering what he can of a somewhat awkward, stilted smile. 

The younger man turns to run into the water with his daughter, and Ben’s breath catches in his throat. 

He’d said he was discharged honorably for injuring his back. Ben had assumed it was an internal thing, the slipping of a disk or something along that sort. But no, the injury was apparently very much external if the long, thick scar down the man’s back is anything to go by. It looks almost like a burn, jagged and uneven and darker than the rest of his skin. 

“He was in the hospital for four months,” Rey says quietly from beside him. Ben looks down to see she’s watching her boyfriend as well, her arms crossed over her chest. “He can’t tell me what went wrong. I was just told he was injured during a standard mission, and that he would be home as soon as they could transport him safely.” 

“Does it bother him?” Ben asks.

“The nerves around it are destroyed, so he can’t really feel our fingers on it when we touch it,” she explains. “Thankfully, everything seemed to heal all right. The occasional twinge, that sort of thing. But he has no trouble with anything else.” 

Ben watches as the younger man chases his daughter around the sprinkler, grabbing her under her arms and swinging her up. He can see the muscles of the man’s shoulders as he lifts BB, scar scrunching and rippling as he holds her up, much to her delight. 

“Dad thought it was next Saturday,” Poe explains as he steps from the house. “He’s volunteering tonight, but says that dinner sometime this week would work.”

“Grandpa?” BB asks, running over to the patio. 

“Grandpa made an oops and isn’t coming, princess,” Poe tries. “But we’ll see him later this week.” 

“Aw…” she whines softly, and it would be a little obnoxious if her eyes weren’t watering. Oh, God, her little lip is wobbling and she looks on the verge of tears. 

Ben makes a split second decision, pulling his phone, keys and wallet from his pocket and handing them to Rey. “Hold these?” he asks her, and she takes them from him, frowning at him. 

“What’re you-“ she starts, but he’s toeing his shoes off and his socks as well, setting them on the side of the patio. He bends down and scoops BB up in his arms, bridal-carry style, and then he walks with her giggling and shrieking in laughter right through the sprinkler as Finn, Poe and Rey stare in awe at him. 

His jeans are getting wet, and so is his shirt, but he grins down at the little girl in his arms as she shrieks for him to put her down through her giggles. He obeys and stands on the side, occasionally getting hit with water as he watches her hop and skip through the lines of water. The top part of the turtle’s shell occasionally blasts a lot of water; large, timed spurts of it. He counts it at every minute or so, but to her it seems random, and she always screams when it lets loose when she isn’t expecting it. He smiles as she splashes, not even minding the fact that he’s now pretty much soaking as errant water hits him often. 

He feels someone next to him, and turns to see that Finn’s come to stand beside him. The man’s so close that if Ben just sways slightly he can feel Finn’s shoulder against his bicep. He allows himself the small pleasure, letting his arm brush against the sun-warmed skin of the former soldier. 

“I thought she was going to have a breakdown,” Finn admits, watching as BB continues to play in the sprinkler. Luke’s apparently trotted out from somewhere and is trying, very unsuccessfully but also very adorably, to bite at the water. “Thanks for distracting her.” 

“Any time,” Ben offers, smiling as he sees her hop over the large geyser with a shriek. 

“I’m getting burgers started!” Poe calls. “What’s everyone want?” 

“Medium!” Finn yells back. 

“Same!” Ben calls. And then Finn’s gone, rushing right back through the water with his daughter. The teacher chuckles as the man almost trips over the puppy, Luke stumbling but picking himself quickly before running to play with his sister. 

Ben walks back up to the patio, soaking wet but beaming. He grins at the other two thirds of the threesome, running his hand through his wet hair and slicking it back from his forehead. He’s glad he opted for contacts today; his glasses would’ve been covered in droplets otherwise. “Hey.” 

“Hey yourself, that was brilliant,” Poe commends him. “I’m serious about the clothes, though.” 

“I don’t think your pants will fit me,” Ben says with a sheepish grin. 

“Eh, they’ll show a bit of ankle, but they’ll fit otherwise,” Poe says with a shrug as he starts to unwrap the burgers from the tray they’d been put on. 

“Then I might take you up on that.” Wet jeans aren't exactly the most comfortable, and he can feel them clinging to him. He's just grateful the water coming from the hose is near ice-cold, because he's not entirely sure what his situation would be if it wasn't. 

“Awesome," Poe says, the grill hissing as he puts the meat on the grate. "Rey, mind taking him up?” 

“Sure thing,” she says, pushing herself off from where she’d been leaning against the side of the house and smiling at Ben, jerking her head towards the inside of the house. “C’mon, Solo.” 

He’s careful not to slip as he tracks water and grass and a bit of mud in from the outdoors. “Shit, I’m sorry,” he mutters. “New floor, too.” 

“Please, we’ve been doing it all day between … well, everyone,” she says as she turns the corner, leading him up the stairs. He can see the chalk marks on the wall, but can’t make heads or tails of what they’re for. He tries, leaning back to look at them. 

“It’s a quote,” she explains. “We’re going to paint it next week. Well, Finn’s going to paint it next week. And then we’ll hang up the photos along the line.” She points to another chalk mark that had obviously been drawn with a longer yardstick, going up the entire wall along the staircase. 

“Nice,” he says, hanging onto the railing tightly as he makes his way up, trying not to slip. 

“We hope it will be. Finn’s going to take pictures of her to put up.” 

“I’m sure it’ll be fantastic,” he replies. He can imagine it now; their picture-perfect little not-normal family. Imperfectly perfect. He stares at the chalk marks for a few more moments before ascending the stairs with her. 

She leads him into a large master bedroom and walks to a set of drawers. He can see that there are three, all along the far wall. There’s no distinction between them, aside from a jewelry box on top of the middle one, and he watches as she tries two sets of the drawers before coming up with a pair of black sweatpants. “They might be a bit short,” she says, sounding apologetic as she offers them to him. “I’m not sure whose they are anymore. They share clothes so often.” 

“It’s fine,” Ben replies, taking the soft fabric from her. They’re obviously well-worn, the fabric thin but butter-smooth. “Thank you so much.” 

“Bathroom’s right through there,” she explains, pointing to a white door with frosted glass in the middle. “You can hang your jeans up on the shower rod, if you want, or we can throw them in the dryer.”

“I’ll just hang them up.” He makes his way into the bathroom and shucks his jeans off. It takes a little bit of hopping, and he ends up leaning against the counter since the wet denim clings to his skin. Eventually they come off with a wet ‘plop’, and he pulls the sweatpants on before hanging the jeans up to dry. Both Poe and Rey had been right; they do show his ankles, coming a good two fingers width above the bone. But they’re soft and comfortable, and more importantly dry, so he’ll gladly take it. 

Rey’s sitting on the bed when he comes out, obviously waiting for him. The bed’s slightly too high for her, up on risers for storage underneath, so she’s swinging her small feet that only just barely touch the floor. 

It’s an incredibly endearing image, and Ben finds himself smiling softly at her as he tries to calm his heart rate to no avail. “Hey.” 

“Hey.” She stands, walking over to him. “They look good on you.” 

“You mean they look slightly ridiculous,” he says, looking down at his pale ankles sticking out from the black fabric. 

“Doesn’t mean they don’t look good,” she says, and then she’s reaching up and lacing her hands around his neck. He can’t breathe, can’t think, can’t move as she just stands there, pressed close to him despite the fact that he’s still wearing a wet shirt. 

“Rey, I-“

“You’re good with her,” she says simply, staring up at him with warm brown eyes that are entirely too close. He’s sure he can count the freckles across her cheeks and nose with how close they are, nearly sharing breath. He resists the urge to gulp, knowing that between the breath caught in his throat and his tongue feeling suddenly too big for his mouth that he'll just end up choking and embarrassing himself in front of this gorgeous woman.

“I try to be.” He’s not entirely sure if his voice does actually sound strained, or if he just hears it that way. 

Her hands move into his hair, tangling in the damp strands, pulling him closer, and then her lips are brushing against his. On instinct, he presses closer, hands finding her small waist. His heartbeat roars in his ears and he vaguely thinks that this is what he wants, right? He wants the affection of this beautiful woman, wants to kiss her and touch her and hold her. 

But it makes him sick thinking about her boyfriends downstairs, sweet Finn and gorgeous Poe and oh, God, BB. What the hell is he doing?

 _He can’t do this._

He nearly wrenches himself away from her, so forcefully her hands break free from around his neck and she’s left standing alone with wet spots on her denim shirt where they’d pressed together. “Ben-?” 

“I’m sorry,” he mumbles, running his hand through his damp hair. “I’m sorry. I-I can’t, you can’t…” 

“Can’t what?” she asks, and then her small hands are reaching for his. “What can’t you do?” 

His fingers find the ring on her left hand, tracing the band and the skin around it. “Rey, I'm so sorry. I can't - I just - there’s Finn, and Poe, and BB, and-“ 

There's maybe half a heartbeat of silence, and then she’s laughing. She’s pulling her hands from his and laughing, one hand moving to her mouth and the other holding her stomach as she laughs harder than that time Poe accidentally put a pepper in his mouth and reacted spectacularly at that Mexican restaurant they went to last month. She laughs harder than the time Ben told her about one of his previous students refusing to come down from the firepole despite being only 2 feet from the ground, and louder than when Finn nearly face planted during his rush to greet Ben after a week of not getting dinner or lunch. 

“Why are you laughing?” he demands, voice suddenly hard. “Rey, I can’t do this, I don’t want to go between-“ 

“Did you know we played rock-paper-scissors?” she asks, breathless. The words are barely formed, soft and said in between giggles. 

He stares at her, blinking once, twice in confusion before he gives up entirely and needs an explanation. “… what?” 

She presses her hands to his chest, sliding them up his pecs until they’re on his shoulders again. “Did you know that we played rock-paper-scissors, the three of us, to decide who would seduce you?” 

Every single function in his body seems to stop, and the only thing he can muster is another dumb, “What?” 

“We played rock-paper-scissors to see which one of us would seduce you,” she repeats, pulling him down again so that she can tangle her hands back into his hair. “I won.” 

He blinks. “So the cheek kiss-?” 

“Was entirely planned and Poe and Finn were disappointed I didn’t do it sooner,” she explains. “I got there early on purpose.”

“And the one downstairs?” 

“Poe knows about that one. I’m not sure about Finn.” 

“Finn knows.” 

He nearly gets whiplash as he looks towards the bedroom door to see Finn standing there, dripping wet in the doorway. His smile is near blinding as he watches the two of them, and Ben can only stare in complete and utter confusion. 

“So you-“ he starts. 

“You could say we’re hot for teacher,” Finn offers with a shrug, pushing himself off of the doorway and making his way to his drawers to grab clothes that aren’t just a pair of swim trunks. 

“What?” It’s his new favorite word, apparently. He watches as Finn reaches for a towel from the bathroom, drying himself off before tugging a blue v-neck over his chest. 

“That’s why we asked if you would be BB’s teacher next year,” Rey explains, hands still playing with his hair. He bites back a moan as she runs her fingernails along his scalp, tugging ever so slightly. “And that’s why we were so happy about you not teaching her.” 

“It’s not because we don’t want you teaching her,” Finn calls from the bathroom where Ben can only assume he’s stripping. He nearly lets out a whimper at the mental image. The man emerges in nearly the same pants as Ben’s, toweling at his arms and hair. 

“It’s because we want you, but we don’t want it to be awkward for you or BB,” Rey explains, fingers moving to draw circles at the nape of his neck. 

“I… really?” he questions, and he’s sure his eyes are wide as he stares down at her.

Her responding smile is sweet, and when she reaches up to kiss him he meets her halfway. Her mouth’s soft beneath his, open and willing to him. She tastes like one of the tomatoes she must’ve snuck while she was cutting them, and the cherry Chapstick she seems to constantly be wearing. Her warmth cuts through the chill of his wet t-shirt, and her hips are small beneath his hands. He takes his time kissing her, keeping it slow and somewhat innocent before he pulls back, breathless. “You’re not kidding?” 

“Nope,” she says, popping the ‘p’ with a grin. “We’re serious.”

“Very serious,” Finn adds from somewhere behind him. “That is, if you want us too…?” 

“God, yes,” Ben breathes, laughing in disbelief. “You have no idea.” 

“We have some kind of an idea,” Rey admits. “Did you know the tips of your ears blush, too? We thought you were going to burst a blood vessel when Poe came to dinner in his leather jacket and those skinny jeans." 

"I told you they were a good idea," Finn says. 

Shit. He opens his mouth to offer them something, anything, some kind of explanation perhaps, but he’s interrupted almost immediately. 

“How long does it take to put on pants?” Poe calls from downstairs. “Burgers are ready, slowpokes!” There’s some indistinct but good-natured grumbling afterwards, and Rey moves her hands down his arms. She laces his fingers with hers, squeezing gently before tugging him towards the door with Finn bringing up the rear. 

They enter the kitchen with their hands still intertwined, and Ben resists the strong urge to let her go as soon as they see Poe, who’s getting out a platter with cheese, onion and tomato on it. He stops dead in his tracks when he sees the other three. Ben watches, heart still in his chest as the older father’s eyes find Rey’s hand with his. Poe’s gaze darts between their interlaced hands and Ben, and then his face splits into the biggest smile Ben’s ever seen on the man. “It worked?” 

“It worked,” Rey says, leaning against Ben’s arm. Ben turns when he feels her lips against his skin, looking down to find that she’d kissed just before the sleeve of his t-shirt. 

Ben barely has a second to breathe before the platter’s clattering to the countertop and Poe’s lips are on his, warm and dry. The man kisses like he smiles, like he speaks; eager, and charming as hell. Ben can’t help but smile back against the father’s lips as he kisses back as best as he can while grinning. 

“I knew it should’ve been her,” Poe breathes against his lips, pulling back only slightly. “I swear, if it was one of us, it would’ve been another month or two.” 

“Because you would’ve lingered too long,” Rey explains, squeezing Ben’s hand as Poe’s hand moves into his hair. “You wouldn’t have been forward with it. It took you and Finn months to get your act together.” 

Ben turns as Poe laughs, pulling back just a bit. “Guilty,” the father says, hand still in Ben’s hair. “You’re really serious? You want us?” 

“Since the second parent-teacher conference,” Ben admits. “Rey was a welcome surprise."

“Beatcha,” Poe says, grinning. “First parent-teacher conference. Finn gave us a very detailed report.” 

Ben turns to see Finn smiling shyly behind him. "You made a good first impression," the younger man says. 

"I'll say," Poe says, going in for another kiss when there's the thundering of tiny feet coming down the stairs. 

“Daddy, Papa, Mama! I want chicken nuggets!” 

Ben has the very real urge to pull away, and quickly, but all Poe does is drop his hand from Ben’s hair and step forward towards his daughter who’s running towards him from the stairs, now dressed in a loose blue cotton sundress, barefoot and – no surprise – bleeding from her left knee. 

“I _just_ sent you upstairs!” Poe insists. “What did you do?!” 

“Tripped on the Barbie car,” the little girl says simply, and Ben laughs, shaking his head as Poe groans and reaches down for her. 

“What are we going to do with you?” he asks, setting her on the counter. Finn’s already gotten the band-aids, and Ben watches as BB swings her little lets as Poe fishes out one that will work for the small cut on her knee. 

The teacher blinks as the band-aid’s offered to him by a smiling Poe. “Want to do the honors?” the father asks, and Ben takes the bandage, ripping the package open and handing the trash to an already waiting Finn. He bends, perhaps doting on her a bit too much as he spends a few moments making her giggle as he tries to get the perfect angle just to keep her laughing. He pulls the sides back before putting the Darth Vader bandage over the cut, large thumbs smoothing down the edges of the band-aid. “There, all better,” he says, standing and smiling down at her. 

To his complete non-surprise, she reaches her arms up for him, and he indulges her in picking her up, holding her on his hip. 

“Told you you were good with her,” Rey says, bumping her hip with his free one.

He just continues smiling, putting the kid down when she starts to wriggle with impatience. He watches as she rushes back outside, giggling as she’s presumably lick-attacked by puppies. 

“Head on out, Ben and I will get the condiments,” Poe says. Rey and Finn obey, walking out to the patio holding hands. 

“You free Tuesday night?” Poe asks as he takes the platter he’d previously dropped in favor of kissing Ben. He nods to the ketchup, mustard and mayo on the counter, indicating Ben should grab them. 

“I think so, why?” Ben asks, grabbing the three bottles. 

“Drinks and discussion, 7,” Poe declares, balancing the platter in his hands. 

“Discussion?” Ben questions. 

The father winks at him. “About what comes after this little, well, confession I guess,” he says, flashing the poor kindergarten teacher a grin before walking through the open glass door. 

Ben stands there for a good few moments, staring at where Poe had just been with wide eyes and parted lips. 

Well, fuck.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since the hot and steamy part of this fic is coming along a bit slower than I'd like (there isn't really much out there in the way of OT4 smut reference, at least in the fandoms I'm in) I decided to end this little section and post that as a oneshot, eventually.   
> I'm sad to see this come to an end - I absolutely love this verse, and I might add some oneshots to it eventually as little epilogue kind of things. But I love writing this OT4, and would love love love some suggestions for new stories since I have lots of plans of writing more of them. Leave them down below in the comments, or message me (on or off anon) on my tumblr, stoptakingmyhandx. I'll try my best to write them!  
> Thank you for staying with me through this - it was so much fun to write and I really enjoyed writing something happy and adorable.

**8 months later**

“BB, hold on, honey!”

She doesn’t listen; then again, he wasn’t really expecting her to. So he lengthens his strides, trying to catch up to the little girl who’s running away from him across the grass. He can hear Poe laughing behind him as he grabs her around the waist, pulling her back against him and hunching over her as he tickles her.

She shrieks, squirming in his hold. “No, no!”

“I won’t tickle you if you listen to me!” he insists, scooping her up and ceasing his tickling. She’s bigger now, but he’s lifted significantly heavier without any trouble. She giggles as he pulls her in, carrying her back to her parents bridal style.

“I caught the runaway princess,” he announces, hand sneaking around to tickle her side again. She laughs, squirming until he sets her on her feet again. She runs towards Finn, who bends to hug her.

“Our knight in shining armor,” Poe says teasingly, grinning at the teacher as he walks towards them, Rey next to him. “Whatever would we do without you?”

“You’d be buying more band-aids,” Ben replies jokingly. “I bet five more steps and she would’ve tripped.”

“Three,” Rey offers, walking to take his arm. Ben lets her, smiling as she leans into him before taking his arm and draping it across her shoulders. He pulls her into him and kisses the top of her head as BB runs away again.

“Sweetheart-“

“It’s fine, she wants to go play near the fountain,” Poe says, waving his hand in dismissal. “I gave her half a roll of pennies.”

Ben glances towards the fountain in the middle of the plaza, a big stone thing with plenty of flourishes and mermaids holding pitchers. She rushes to the edge of it, leaning over the side so far he can only see her teal shorts-covered backside.

“Nope!” Ben calls, pulling away from Rey and walking down the hill to the plaza. “BB, honey, sit back up!”

She does so almost immediately, but she still leans over to drag her fingers in the cool water. He walks up next to her and sits by her side, one hand on her small back to keep her from falling totally into the water. He smiles as Rey sits next to him, her hand finding his free one. She laces their fingers together, and he squeezes her hand in kind. It’s a simple, easy motion to turn his head and bend to kiss her. It’s innocent, as far as their kisses go, and he pulls back after a moment with a soft smile. She responds by leaning against him, resting her head on his upper arm as he turns to watch BB throw pennies into the fountain.

“Are you making wishes, princess?” Poe asks, standing beside her with Finn next to him.

“Uh huh!” She tosses another one. It doesn’t go very far, but it lands flat-side against the water, and the resulting splash is enough to please her. She tries for the next level of the fountain and manages to succeed, smiling happily as the coins soars through the air. She’d lost her left front tooth the week before; Ben can happily say he was the only one who remembered to actually put the money under her pillow this time (her right canine had been a disaster, and he’d had to steal some glitter from his school supplies to fake a fairy apology note).

She’s down to three pennies now, and he watches as she aims for the top tier. She doesn’t get it, her arm too short and throw too weak, but it bounces off and falls into the one below it.

“BB, honey, what are you wishing for?” Poe asks, Finn’s arm wrapped around his waist.

“If I tell you, it won’t come true!” BB insists, before reaching out towards Ben. “Can you get it up top?”

“I can try,” he tells her, standing and taking the coin she offers him. “Do we have more after this?”

“A few, yeah,” Rey says. “I’m sure I can find some in my purse."

“Great.” He takes the coin and wraps his arm around BB’s waist, holding her to him. He presses a kiss to the top of her head before winding his free arm back. “You tell me the wish and I’ll throw, okay?”

“Okay!” she says, grinning and nearly bouncing up and down as he prepares to throw. “Ready?”

“Yeah!” He throws it as hard as he can, watching as it sails through the air.

“I wish that Mr. Solo would move in with us!”

The coin hits the edge of the top tier and bounces off into it, landing into the spray before being pushed into the pool. 

What.

He nearly drops her in the fountain as he turns to stare at Poe, Finn and Rey with wide eyes. Rey’s since stood up, and has moved to be beside her boyfriends.

Shit. What does he say to that? He offers the best smile he can muster, looking down at the little girl who’s staring up at him expectantly. He feels his heart break just a little bit as he casts a glance towards her parents, and then starts to shake his head. “BB, I don’t think-“

“We might’ve told her to wish that,” Poe confesses, grin absolutely shit-eating as he leans back against Finn.

“And we might’ve planned this,” Finn says.

“We might’ve been holding onto the roll of pennies for a few weeks, now,” Rey tells him.

“It’s your choice, of course,” Poe adds. “It just … it kind of seemed like the most natural progression of this. I mean, you’re there most of the time anyway.”

“I think we have more of your supplies at our house than you do at yours,” Rey informs him with a sweet smile.

“And BB’s already on board,” Finn says. “She’s been asking if you could for months, now.”

He feels small arms around his neck, and looks down to see BB hugging him, the fountain ledge giving her enough height so that she can hug him properly. On instinct he wraps one of his arms around her back, keeping her close to him as he returns his gaze to her parents. “… are you sure?” he asks softly. “I mean, I don’t want to intrude on anything-“

“You’re not,” Rey assures him, walking forward to press a soft kiss to his cheek. “We want you. In a lot of ways, but we want you to move in with us. Only if you want to, of course.” She reaches down and takes his hand. Poe and Finn move forward as well. He doesn’t have two more hands for them, his grip on the girls, but the closeness of the other two men is enough.

“... do you really want me?” he asks, voice rough as he stares down at them.

Finn kisses him first, happy and eager. His large hands make their way into Ben’s hair, and the teacher can feel the other man grinning against his lips. Ben laughs, gripping BB tighter and squeezing Rey’s hand in his. Poe’s next, stubble scratching against Ben’s chin. His glasses become slightly askew after the older man’s kiss, the sheer force of it making him grin like an idiot.

“We love you,” Rey tells him as he pulls back from Poe, her lips brushing against his jaw softly, nose pressing to his cheek almost directly afterwards. He turns to kiss her as well, lazy and easy and so so familiar as he lets his eyes slip closed.

“I love you, too,” he mutters against her lips once he can pull back slightly, grinning. “All four of you.”

It’s only natural that BB's up next. He’s still able to swing her onto his hip, and he grins as he presses a kiss to her cheek. “You want this, sweetheart?”

Her little gap-toothed grin makes his heart skip a beat, and then she’s leaning in and kissing his cheek too. It’s a little wet, and not exactly elegant, but hey, she’s 6. “Hi, Da.”

He freezes, heart swelling in his chest as he looks down at her. “… Da?” he repeats.

“Pops sounded way too old, she calls me Pa sometimes, it just seemed like the easiest,” Poe explains with a wave of his hand. “So we have Daddy, Papa, Mama, and Da.”

Oh, God, speaking seems impossible after this. BB's arms are tight around his neck, nearly as constricting as the emotion clenching around his throat. “You planned that, too?”

“We discussed it the morning after our third sleepover,” Finn says, the word code for whenever the four spent the night together. “There was a lot of Googling on gay forums for options.”

Ben snorts, shaking his head as he looks down at BB. “You really want me to be your Da?”

“Uh huh!”

And it’s that simple. The months of pining and returning to his bed at night to find it too small and too cold, the slow progression from leaving before BB could realize what was going on to eventually standing next to Rey as she sits at the kitchen counter watching Poe make bacon and Finn mix pancake batter. All of it’s resolved in a single question, and plenty of kisses to his cheeks and lips after his answer of, “Yes.”


End file.
